The golden period of Olympique de Marseille in the early 90s, culminating in the victory of the Olympian club in the Champions League in 1993, will always remain marked with the seal of infamy. The VA-OM affair in fact revealed a real corruption scandal and it quickly became apparent that the Ciel et Blanc were accustomed to doing so.
And if some former Marseille players are very uncomfortable when talking about this era, Pascal Olmeta does not spare Bernard Tapie. “Valenciennes, you were champion. But this man didn't want to respect anyone in any way. In the locker room, there were three who didn't get along with him, we didn't even say hello to him anymore, Carlos Mozer, Eric Cantona and me. he confided to the microphone of Rothen s'ignée, on RMC.
“Amazed you always are, you say that it’s not possible, that it can’t happen. That's where I lost my cheerfulness,
he whispered. With OM, it's the first club where you sold your colors. He was the businessman. When you sell your colors, it's like you're taking away a child's comfort blanket. It's over, there's no more smell, we're dead. »
The VA-OM match was not an isolated case
And by his own admission, the VA-OM match was not an isolated case.
“If I had seen it, believe me it wouldn’t have happened. When we are in Prague, I hear him and he comes back with the ball under his arm: gentlemen, I saw the referees.. 'Here take it in the ass we lose the match'”, he explained before indicating that he was approached by the Olympians while he was playing for Racing and was preparing to join OM.
“There are a lot of these people who I have punched in the face in the showers. These people will recognize each other. Once I was playing for Paris, it was the semi-final of the Coupe de France at the Vélodrome, I was approached but I didn't understand. If you remember the match, I did everything, no ball passed,
he said. They told me: 'Let us pass because you're going to sign with us.' As long as I hadn't signed… I was entering a field, you could give me what you wanted, I would have bitten father and mother. Whoever I thought were shady, ask them. There was one so much that I hurt him, he didn't play the match. »
