Pablo Longoria looking to offload several Marseille directors
L’Équipe report today that Marseille president Pablo Longoria has been tasked with making €19m in cuts to off-the-pitch spending, which is set to include a reshuffle and multiple dismissals among the club’s directors.
The mood behind the scenes is said to be worsening as employees look to save their spot by any means necessary, with several alleged cases of bullying being reported.
Over the summer, Longoria’s inner circle expanded, with his right-hand man Pedro Iriondo now being joined by assistant general director Stéphane Tessier, academy director Marco Otero, and director of football Javier Ribalta. The latter’s salary of around €600,000 gross a year has raised some eyebrows in the works council [CSE in French].
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Others left over the summer, including Nathalie Nénon-Zimmerman, the former assistant director general in charge of marketing, who drafted a four-page letter to Longoria complaining of an alleged withholding of information from her on the part of Iriondo and even discriminatory attitudes. She officially left the club on June 20.
More departures could be on the way this month, with the likes of director of communication Jacques Cardoze or his legal department opposite number Alexandre Mielhe reportedly set to be on their way out. The former has been on sick leave since getting a letter summoning him to a meeting ahead of a sanction. The reasons are said to be over his annoyance at Sporting Lisbon’s late arrival in their Champions League game, and an anti-Paris chant at the training ground. The disputed transfer of Pape Gueye has reportedly been the undoing of Mielhe.
Ribalta, via his director of football operations Evgeny Koshelev, is keeping an eye on those around the coaching staff. For example, long-time assistant director of communications Élodie Malatrait is reportedly in the Spaniard’s line of fire over her proximity with the playing squad, having acted as a go-between regarding their frustrations with Igor Tudor this summer. She also kept contact with Jorge Sampaoli over a potential quick-fire return for the Argentine, having been put under pressure by several players who wanted him back. She was barred from the dressing room but then brought back into the fray, and is reportedly doing everything to keep her spot.
Sporting director David Friio is also said to be on the chopping block, having struggled to find his place in the Marseille set-up and finding himself excluded from virtually every aspect. Longoria was contacted by L’Équipe yesterday evening and denied a departure for Friio, without going into detail on other topics.