“I think that Sunday is the last match of my career,” announced Jean-Louis Gasset, the OM coach, on Friday, who will play in Le Havre on the last day of Ligue 1 on Sunday. “That I stay in football, that we use my experience, my ideas, my networks, it’s possible. And I don’t know how to garden, so I won’t have anything to do. But coach, it’s over,” Gasset explained.
Aged 70, Gasset joined OM in February, replacing Gennaro Gattuso. He had just left the Ivory Coast selection. “I wanted to finish on a high note. It’s an honor for me to have coached OM. I spent times at the Vélodrome where I had goosebumps. Coaching OM, it’s very demanding,” he explained on Friday.
“Win this last match”
Under his command, Marseille reached the semi-finals of the Europa League. But in L1, he did not manage to raise the bar and OM were only 8th before the last day and no longer had their destiny in their hands for possible European qualification. “I want to win this last match to leave calm. I will only be satisfied if we win,” Gasset said.
During his long career, Gasset notably coached Montpellier, Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux. He was also Laurent Blanc’s assistant in the French team and at Paris SG.