The tea towel continues to burn between Olympique de Marseille and its supporters.
So, on Monday, unwittingly, the leaders of the Olympian club set fire to the powder again by launching their initiative called Agora OM, which comes a fortnight after the serious incidents that took place at the training center of the Commandery.
In the press release presenting this "great consultation with all the supporters of the club", Hugues Ouvrard, the general manager of the club, affirms that the OM "has taken the decision to no longer tolerate any violence committed by the ultras supporters.
We notified them by sending a letter of formal notice affirming our desire to put an end to these practices. "
A formal notice that does not pass
According to the daily
La Provence
, OM would consider in this context to "put an end to the convention on subscriptions" which binds the club and organized groups of supporters.
A threat of sanction, therefore, but not yet a reality, the Olympian club then specifying to the regional daily that this agreement was not broken at the present time.
“We will therefore await their observations to consider what the club decides to take as a measure.
It is a very classic process in view of the serious violence and degradation that has taken place, as any responsible club would do.
No one can tolerate these events. ”
"There cannot be tens of thousands of Marseillais who pay the consequences of a few excited, already in court"
Benoît Payan
A way of putting pressure on them which caused an outcry on the political level, with the mayor of Marseille who reacted in the evening.
“The supporters are the soul of the club.
Their formal notice by the management is incomprehensible, there cannot be tens of thousands of Marseillais who pay the consequences of a few excited, already in court.
I wrote to Jacques-Henri Eyraud to calm things down, ”wrote Benoît Payan on social networks.
In addition to Benoît Payan, several Marseille politicians reacted on Monday evening, also in defense of the supporters.
“OM is our city.
It's our life!
Supporters' associations are the beating heart of our club in the city but also outside.
@jheyraud and @OM_Officiel, don't be fooled, ”Martine Vassal, LR president of the Aix-Marseille metropolis and the Bouches-du-Rhône department, launched on Twitter.
“We place the supporters at the heart of the project, OM is a popular club and must remain so. On the other hand, we can no longer tolerate violence ”
Hugues Ouvrard
"What the supporters expect are results (...) and not a disguised dissolution of their supporters' clubs", also reacted Samia Ghali, deputy mayor of the city.
In an interview with AFP on Monday, Hugues Ouvrard, for his part, presented Agora OM as a "hand extended to all the supporters", including the fringe who attacked the Commandery on January 30.
Initiated by President Jacques-Henri Eyraud, this project is "not demagoguery" or "a Théodule committee", insisted the CEO of the club, assuring that he wanted "to start a dialogue and put in place an action plan for overhaul the system of supporterism ”.
“We place the supporters at the heart of the project, OM is a popular club and must remain so.
On the other hand, we can no longer tolerate violence, ”said the leader, explaining that this initiative followed the incidents of the Commandery.
Before the OM-Rennes match, around 300 Olympian supporters had triggered violent incidents in front of the entrance gate of the training center, a few dozen of them even managing to enter.
Fourteen of the attackers are to be tried on February 24, three more on March 22.
Five of them are still in detention.
On February 3, in a joint statement, the six groups of OM supporters demanded the departure of President Eyraud, the target of their criticism.
Read also
Divorce football clubs and supporters