In the midst of a storm and while his future at the head of OM is still uncertain, Pablo Longoria spoke in the columns of La Provence this Wednesday evening. The Spanish leader deplores the threats from representatives of supporter groups and assures that he “came out clean” from an audit he requested last season.
Pablo Longoria comes out of silence. While OM is going through a serious crisis and its future is in limbo, the Olympian president, who has for the moment chosen to withdraw, spoke in the columns of the Provence.
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“On Monday, I told myself that she (the limit, editor’s note) was still much further than I thought, confides the Spanish leader about the famous meeting. It started with insinuations and progressed to threats. I can’t accept that, I can’t hear: ‘In Marseille it’s like that’. This is why we said on Tuesday: ‘In the current conditions, it is impossible to work’. You understand me now, right? It is not normal for a football manager to be threatened. Let him be criticized, yes, we are paid for that. But threatened…”
“I had prepared myself for criticism but I remained optimistic about the future,” continued Longoria to La Provence about the meeting with the supporters. “I was able to speak for two minutes, then I was cut off and that got out of hand very quickly… We were told: ‘All four of you resign, otherwise it’s war’. The limits were exceeded.”
“To protect myself, I had to ask the McCourt group to audit all our operations by an independent firm”
While his management of the club was called into question by the leaders of supporters groups present at the famous meeting on Monday, Longoria claims to have requested an audit from the McCourt group. According to him, this audit cleared him of any misconduct.
“Last season, insinuations that I had stolen money with transfers reached the McCourt group,” adds Longoria. “To protect myself, I had to ask the McCourt group to audit all our operations by an independent firm, to demonstrate that we were transparent. I gave away all my bank accounts, my phones, my emails, everything… The result was that we were clean! I gave everything, up to ‘to private conversations with my mother.’
Zeroual and Cataldo deny death threats
On their sideRachid Zeroual and Christian Cataldo, historic figures from the Marseille stands, spoke to AFP this Wednesday evening. The leader of the South Winners and that of the Dodger’s affirm that they did not utter death threats nor demand resignation during the explosive meeting of September 18 which led to the departure of coach Marcelino and the establishment withdrawal of President Pablo Longoria and his three main collaborators.
According to Rachid Zeroual, the meeting was an opportunity for him to “raise certain problems” that parents reported to him about the training center. “We were asking questions and we had no answers. So it’s true that I told them: ‘If it’s true and you don’t give us an answer, I’m asking for your resignation, because it’s much more serious. If it’s psychological harassment of children and parents, you should resign, get out of the club as they say in Marseille.