The 5-0 rout against PSG acted like an electric shock, a brutal reveal of the ills that are eating away at Olympique de Marseille. If the players and the coach are on the front line, this collective failure inevitably reflects on those who built the squad: president Pablo Longoria and his advisor Medhi Benatia. Their model, based on high staff turnover and a constant search for added value, shows its limits. And this humiliation could well accelerate a palace revolution that has been silently preparing for several months.
After the rout, Longoria on an ejection seat?
Because while Longoria is active on the transfer market, another figure, much more discreet but just as powerful, is taking up more and more space in the club’s organizational chart. Her name: Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson. This Franco-Iranian businesswoman, CEO of McCourt Global, the holding company that owns OM, has become Frank McCourt’s confidant. An influential member of the supervisory board, she is the true strategist of the club, the one who validates the main directions and who has the last word on governance issues.
His power, which is above the athlete, gives him a right of oversight over the executive management embodied by Pablo Longoria. If it does not intervene in the choice of a player, it can however arbitrate and lock in the financial framework within which the president and his team work. And above all, she has the power to decide whether or not the president will continue in the event of a crisis.
Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson, CEO of McCourt Global, watches from the presidential gallery. The shadow of the owner hangs over the Vélodrome, while the sporting crisis further weakens Pablo Longoria.
The Eyraud scenario, a scary precedent
This pattern is furiously reminiscent of a recent and painful past for Marseille supporters: that of the end of the Jacques-Henri Eyraud era. Also very close to the owner, he ended up being pushed out after an accumulation of sporting crises and a total break with the Vélodrome. Today, Longoria finds himself in a similar position. The Classic fiasco, a contested transfer window and a climate that could quickly become explosive are all elements that could give Semsar-de Boisséson and the supervisory board the legitimacy to make a change.
Pablo Longoria is not yet officially threatened, but his position is more exposed than ever. He has become the ideal fuse for a proprietary project which wants to stay away from the anger of the supporters. If results do not improve quickly, the rise of OM’s new strong woman could well spell the end of her reign.
