South Winners 87 leader Rachid Zeroual, who spearheads Olympique de Marseille fan groups’ revolt against the club’s sporting policy, has hinted to La Provence he would file a complaint, presumably against Marseille president Pablo Longoria. This Friday evening, the Spaniard called a press conference to announce his intention to remain in his position. Longoria has met with leaders of Les Phocéens‘ fan groups, including Zeroual’s South Winners, on Monday.
The insult-ridden and “extremely tense” meeting brought Longoria, as well as three other Marseille executives, to temporarily step down from his functions. “What happened on Monday was inadmissible. Inadmissible. I don’t want to fuel a conflict, but I don’t want us to find ourselves faced with this type of situation in the future”, the former Valencia CF Sporting director said. Longoria added that he would find a complaint in the wake of Monday’s meeting.
Zeroual, whose influence at Marseille goes way beyond the Vélodrome stands, is unimpressed. “That’s just hot air“, the South Winners boss said. “He said he would file a complaint, but against who or what ? No one. I’ll file a complaint as well.” Zeroual, as well as other representatives of OM fan groups, has notably confronted Longoria over the handling of 36 Marseille-born youngsters, whose contracts at the club’s Academy were broken. Zeroual claims he has sensible documents to back his belief that Longoria should resign from his post. “I don’t give a f***, he can say what he wants. I know what I have in my hands. If he continues, it will come out for everyone to see and the people he covers up at the Academy won’t be able to hide.“
GFFN | Bastien Cheval
