Spanish coach Marcelino Toral left Marseille’s technical team this Wednesday after just seven official games, falling victim to pressure from the fans of the French club on the president and his management family.
“We believe that the events of September 18 do not allow Marcelino and his technical team to perform in good conditions the role for which they were hired. As a result of this unfortunate situation, they will not continue to work at the club. We are disappointed that we will have to face, for unsportsmanlike reasons, the departure of a coach who arrived in Marseille only on June 23,” the French club said.
Fans of Marseille, where Portuguese Vitinha plays, demanded on Monday the resignation of president Pablo Longoria and three members of his family, also Spaniards, who are part of the management, creating a “deplorable situation” that has made the coach’s succession precarious.
The 58-year-old coach no longer traveled with the team to Amsterdam, where Marseille will face Ajax in the first round of the Europa League group stage on Thursday.
Marcelino Toral was a late arrival to Marseille, which may have contributed to his failure to qualify for the Champions League group stage, losing to Panathinaikos in the third qualifying round.
The fans’ anger against the Spanish president also turned against their compatriot, who had previously spent 18 months at Athletic Bilbao.
Since the club was bought by American Frank McCourt in 2016, Marseille has had coaches including Frenchman Rudi Garcia, Portuguese Andre Villas-Boas, Argentine Jorge Sampaoli and Igor Tudor, as well as interim Nasser Larguet.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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