President of OM between 2005 and 2009, Pape Diouf was one of the pillars of the club's rebirth, which he brought season after season to the heights of French football. And even if he had left office when OM was titled champion of France in 2010, the former journalist who died of coronavirus on Tuesday is largely responsible for the consecration of the men of Didier Deschamps, recruited by Diouf in May 2009 .
" Pope forced respect for all French football"
The coach of the Blues wanted to salute the memory of the one who came to pick him up when he was without club. “I learned with amazement of the death of Pape Diouf on Tuesday evening. His sudden and brutal disappearance deeply saddens me. First as a journalist, then as an agent, then as the manager of Olympique de Marseille, Pape forced respect for all of French football where he had established himself, over time, as a leading personality. The memory of our first exchanges goes back to the beginning of my career when Pape advised my friend Marcel Desailly, "explained the grateful coach to the man who offered his career a new springboard.
" Even if our collaboration was brief, I do not forget, obviously, that it was he who allowed me to become the Marseille coach in 2009. "
“I then discovered a man of conviction, a man of spirit, passionate about football and its actors. Even if our collaboration was brief, I do not forget, obviously, that it was he who allowed me to become the Marseille coach in 2009. During my three seasons on the OM bench, I was able to measure his immense popularity with the Marseillais whose heart he had known how to win. This popularity lived up to his love for this city and this club to which he was very attached and which he embodied so well. To his family, to his friends whom I know to be numerous, I send my heartfelt condolences ” , continued the Bayonnais.
READ ALSO - Africa, PTT, OM: Pape Diouf, a fabulous destiny in five dates
After the departure of the Belgian Eric Gerets, Pape Diouf, in agreement with Robert Louis-Dreyfus, had succeeded in convincing Didier Deschamps to return to OM after having been a player there between 1989 and 1994. At the time, "DD" had expressed his desire to find a bench after leaving that of Juventus Turin two years more. The agreement between the Marseille duo and the international team with 103 selections fell on May 2, just a few weeks before Diouf's departure on June 17. Their collaboration was therefore brief as pointed out by Deschamps who quickly inherited a new boss, Vincent Labrune, promoted after the death of Louis-Dreyfus on July 4 of that year.
Read also
- With players' agent Pape Diouf, the floor was golden
