Dugarry accuses former OM leadership of lying to supporters for years

Christophe Dugarry has launched a scathing attack on the former leadership of Olympique de Marseille, denouncing what he views as a fundamentally dishonest strategy toward the club’s supporters.

OM is facing a deep financial crisis. Forced to sell eight players this summer without signing a single replacement, the Phocaean club is still struggling to meet the requirements of the National Financial Control Authority (DNCG), according to new president Stéphane Richard. It is against this backdrop that the former France striker spoke out.

“We lied to supporters all these years,” he said bluntly. Dugarry goes further: even a Champions League qualification last season would not have been enough to turn things around. “The 50 million euros raised this summer would have helped a bit, but you should have sold, you wouldn’t have been able to recruit by buying players to perform in the Champions League.”

Without absolving American owner Frank McCourt, Dugarry primarily attacks the logic of the system that was put in place. “What strikes me most is that the previous leaders rushed into a strategy that couldn’t work. Just poker games with other people’s money. Making 30 transfers per season, guys coming and going, it goes in all directions, you think it stinks!”

Former president Pablo Longoria is directly targeted. “Longoria was sporting director before and it already stunk, and you appoint him president,” Dugarry emphasizes. “You give him full powers to continue doing complete nonsense. McCourt, he put in a lot of money, he lost a lot of money but he made a lot of mistakes!”

Stéphane Richard, meanwhile, chose more measured language to describe the same reality. “To be kind, I can say there was a gamble made by people who were a bit too much gamblers,” he stated. The new OM president acknowledges “somewhat expensive recruitment” linked to the objective of Champions League qualification, which was never achieved. On Longoria’s personal responsibility in this disaster, Richard prefers to reserve judgment: “Is it Longoria’s fault? I don’t know…”