Director of communications for OM from June 2021 to December 2022, Jacques Cardoze today asserts his truths.
His departure from OM was done on the sly, at the end of last year, when dialogue with his management – Frank McCourt and Pablo Longoria in the lead – was no longer happening. While the Marseille club is going through dark times, former communications boss Jacques Cardoze reveals his truths in an interview with L’Equipe. Without trying to argue, however.
On the current crisis, the former investigative journalist admits one thing: “ He talks a lot, even shouts. Especially among the supporters. There are strong faces but also a lot of theater. We can say what we want about certain groups, by Rachid Zeroual (the leader of the South Winners, presented as the main person responsible for the current revolt, editor’s note) notably… But I had to deal with him several times and when he says something, it follows. I prefer a leader who controls his troops. »
“I was anxious all the time”
Although he did not have to deal with such discomfort himself, Jacques Cardoze did not entirely emerge unscathed from his personal history with OM. “ I had been chosen by the McCourt group and Pablo Longoria to try to nip certain rumors in the bud, protect the players, the results… After seven-eight months, some considered that I should no longer play this role, that I was going to put it on the back burner a little. I still think it’s a mistake, he whispers. (…) I could see myself doing at least a three-year cycle. Little did I think that I would receive a bullet after 18 months. »
“ In communications, a lot of people come from the media. But at OM, I felt the stares of some who still saw me as an investigative journalist, insider, the mole… Who thought I was going to reveal things to my journalist friends. It’s been difficult to live with because it’s totally false », he is indignant. And to confess the uneasiness which gradually invaded him in Marseille: “ I saw a psychologist for six months and continue to take medication. At OM, I slept four to five hours a night, I had gained 10 kg, I was anxious all the time. (…) One day, a director told me: “The problem in this environment is that when you are not a whore, the people in front of you say that you are a double whore.” Sorry, but I don’t understand anything about double-dealing. And I’m cash, maybe too much sometimes. This played tricks on me. »
