News Focus
- Olympique de Marseille owner Frank McCourt has ordered a strict lockdown at the club’s training centre following a heavy defeat to FC Nantes
- Sporting director Medhi Benatia supports the punitive measure to punish players for recent poor performances
- Head coach Habib Beye reportedly disagrees with the decision, believing the dressing room is already fractured beyond repair
- The club has dropped to seventh place in Ligue 1 after winning just one of their last six matches
Frank McCourt, the American owner of Olympique de Marseille, is extremely angry with his players. He wants to punish the squad by locking them inside the training ground. This decision comes after the team suffered a 3-0 defeat against FC Nantes on Saturday.
Journalist Daniel Riolo revealed these plans on the French radio programme After Foot. He said McCourt and sporting director Medhi Benatia want to confine the first-team players at La Commanderie, the club’s training centre. The owner believes the players should suffer because they earn high wages but have produced shameful results.
Riolo explained McCourt’s thinking. “Frank McCourt is very, very angry,” the journalist stated. “He is pushing to keep the players locked in. It is almost like revenge. The message is clear: ‘You earn huge salaries, your performances are shameful, so we will make you pay.'”
However, head coach Habib Beye does not support this punishment. Riolo said Beye believes the dressing room is already broken. “This decision does not satisfy Beye because he knows the group is no longer following him,” Riolo added. “In a squad, if three players stop playing for you, it is finished.”
Marseille have fallen to seventh position in the Ligue 1 table. They have won only one match from their last six games. With just two games remaining in the season, the club has collapsed after spending much of the campaign near the top of the table.
Riolo also questioned whether the lockdown will actually work. “In modern football, nobody really believes that locking players away for one or two weeks works anymore,” he said. “But the hierarchy are in a mindset of wanting to make them pay.”