” Help us. Help us find buyers, we are suffering. You have more weight than us, you know how to do it”. This sequence between Rachid Zeroual, historical figure of the South Winners, a group of supporters of Olympique de Marseille, and the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, during his visit to Marseille, symbolizes in itself the grotesque side that is in taking on the rumor of a sale of OM to Saudi Arabia.
The first revelations of a possible sale by certain journalists such as Thibaut Vezirian and Romain Molina first agitated the supporters in 2021, before gradually switching to tension and a form of “hysteria” the following summer, between the ” believers” and “non-believers”, to the point of turning into insults on social networks. This year is no exception to the rule, and barely the season ended, the rumor of a sale of OM to Saudi Arabia came back to the fore through statements by Rolland Courbis, relayed by Bengous or Mohamed Henni on their social networks.
“The impression of constantly having drunk guys next to me”
Before this now famous speech by Rachid Zeroual, Monday afternoon, which seems to have irritated more than one supporter. Beyond this sequence, the linguist and member of the Ultras, Médéric Gasquet-Cyrus considers all this circus around a sale as “downright grotesque”: “We make fun of those who shake the merguez. It’s not their place, tifos we know how to do, encourage, we know how to do. We are very far from what a group of supporters can be ”.
The importance taken by social networks, which means that “80% of people believe they are journalists”, according to the linguist, and the virality of the #VenteOM rumor, even ended up tiring him. “We are constantly in counter analysis. Which isn’t necessarily a problem, we also like to drink shots before games and fantasize about things. But social networks are a huge sounding board and it gets boring, I feel like I always have drunk guys next to me, ”he says.
“Whenever I can put irony, I do not deprive myself of it”
Fortunately, over time, some have managed to take the necessary step back on the subject. Seeing him constantly return to the front of the news once the season is over, when no tangible element tends to confirm this hypothesis, finally makes it possible to laugh about it. “Some accounts know how to make fun of this story. When the documentary on the kids [diffusé dimanche dernier sur Canal+] evokes the financial arrangement from Venezuela, one account was amused by saying “ah in fact that starts from there the OM sale, it finally goes back to the 1980s”. It was very funny, compared to those who claim to have the slightest info, ”said Mederic Gasquet-Cyrus.
Thierry, another subscriber to the Vélodrome stadium, and author of mood posts after OM matches, also decided to laugh at what is becoming a “running gag”. “Whenever I can use irony, I don’t hesitate. I had written a post on Football Club Marseille after the arrival of Vezirian, I will not withdraw a word. I said that I was like an anthropologist who put an insect in a jar and who looks at how it comes out”, laughs this supporter.
At Winamax FC, the online football talk show, we’ve been joking about the subject for a long time. Presenter Thomas Bonnavent already found it “ridiculous” two years ago, so to see the takeover of OM by Saudi Arabia continuing to prosper today is downright “grotesque”: “It’s all ridiculous without name makes me laugh out loud. Especially this false paranoid to believe that Marcelino was appointed so as not to make noise and allow a better integration of Zidane who would have already signed. Or paying a big salary to Kondogbia, because the club has been bought out for two years. Maybe they will prove me wrong in one, three or five years, but in any case I would have laughed”, explains the man who made it a subject of one of his last programs: “OM x Saudi Arabia: why does it drag? “, and this already legendary punchline: “MBS does not mean Mohammed ben Salmane, it is a code name for Minots soon to be Saudis”.
“A total sketch, a total mess”, by Vezirian’s admission
The main interested party in all this media circus, Thibaud Vezirian, also seems to have perceived the burlesque side that his own baby was taking, but without ever changing his mind. To the point of publishing an open letter to reaffirm his statements in the face of “a total sketch, a total mess, a festival of media and communication inconsistencies”, what has become of this story today, by his own admission. He even uses the sequence between “the historic boss of the Winners” and Macron, which he considers “a way of doing things in the era of time”, to reaffirm the veracity of his remarks.
But Rachid Zeroual’s statement, beyond the question of the OM sale, also and above all has its roots in the proximity that the Winner maintains with the political world. Much appreciated by former mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin (LR), he appeared alongside Martine Vassal, the “heiress”, before the Europa League final in 2018. More recently, he invited the new mayor Benoît Payan (DvG) to play the role of capo of the Winners the day after the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the title of European champion. Two right passes, a left hook, and now a deep call for Macron. All subjects are good for talking about yourself. OM, the common denominator of all Marseillais up to the president, even more so.