In Marseille, palace revolutions are occurring at a frantic pace. What should have been an ordinary day on the side of OM, if the season had unfolded as expected by the managers, with radiant sunshine and a quiet reception of FC Metz at the Vélodrome, turned into a new uproar, with the arrival of the American owner Frank McCourt and the presentation of the new Marseille president, Stéphane Richard.
A graduate of HEC and former student of ENA, Stéphane Richard worked in particular at the Financial Inspectorate, the office of the Socialist Minister of Industry Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former Compagnie Générale des Eaux and Veolia Environnement. He was also the chief of staff of Jean-Louis Borloo and Christine Lagarde at the Ministry of the Economy and above all headed Orange, of which he was long perceived as the “unsinkable” boss, capable of resisting political alternations for more than a decade, from 2011 to 2022.
Convicted in the Crédit Lyonnais affair with Tapie
At the time, the operator was still in shock from the “wave of suicides”, the brutal death of 35 employees, sometimes at work, between 2008 and 2009. But he had to let go of the controls of the former historic operator after his conviction in the controversial arbitration case between Bernard Tapie and Crédit Lyonnais. After a general acquittal in July 2019, Stéphane Richard was sentenced on appeal to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 50,000 euros for complicity in the misappropriation of public property. He was chief of staff to the Minister of the Economy, Christine Lagarde, at the time of the arbitration.
In 2025, following a third trial, the offense was reclassified as “negligence” and he was finally sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros. After Pablo Longoria, the scout/recruiter with a purely sporting profile, we now have a manager with a technocratic profile who reminds us more of Jacques-Henri Eyraud than of Pablito.
“Marseille needs a very strong leader with executive experience, especially at the present moment with many challenges to face for French football,” McCourt said when making the presentations. Someone who knows Marseille, who has lived here. When I studied the different candidates and understood that Stéphane was interested – I had known him for a while when he was CEO of Orange – he ticked all the boxes. The decision was quite simple for me in the end. We were able to do everything quickly and efficiently. OM needs this leadership to restore serenity and calm within the club. »
Studies in Marseille before heading to Paris
This is an understatement in a club which will have once again changed coach during the season, after the departure of Roberto De Zerbi last February, and whose checkered results have widened a chasm between the team and its supporters. Tensions that the arrival of Habib Beye will not have really helped to calm down for the moment. And to achieve this, the former leader of Orange immediately announced that he did not have “grigri” but “the bottle” to manage crisis situations.
“I come here with the spirit of devoting myself completely to it, it’s not to make a career, the majority of my career is rather behind me. It is with this spirit of service. And I think the best charm is experience. I have experienced many complicated crisis situations in my life, it hardens the skin and allows you to better manage stress. I don’t believe in the president’s curse (smile). » The future new strong man of OM, who will not officially take up his duties until the end of the season, on July 2 to be exact, recalled his knowledge and love of the city, he who studied there before pursuing a career in the capital.
“It’s a great emotion for me because my two passions converge: Marseille, where I grew up, and football. I passed my baccalaureate in Marseille, then I went to Paris for my preparatory class. I have kept very strong links with this city, the only house I own today is in Marseille, I have many friends there, it is a city that I know intimately, he listed. I know what OM represents. The whole city thinks and breathes for OM. I’m a footballer, I followed all the club’s epics. Bringing together my two loves, Marseille and football, is a kind of dream job. »
And what could be better, after having shown a credentials, than a little cheap demagoguery by sending a small tackle to the nasty pedants of the capital, which every president must (it seems) not carry in his heart to be accepted in Marseille: “I have knowledge of the spirit of Marseille. I know how we see Marseille in the capital – where I lived for 40 years. There are clichés, a bit of sneering, and that annoys me. »
A relationship to rebuild with supporters
But it is not on his degree of enmity with the spheres of Parisian power, where he spent most of his life as he says himself, that Stéphane Richard will be judged, but on his ability to lift up a club that has been struggling for too many years now. “The club is at the crossroads of changes and changes will be made,” he announced, while specifying that he did not intend to be a president removed from sporting questions and that he would surround himself with competent people to help him in his task.
“I am not a football technician, I will rely on seasoned professionals,” he warned. But it will not be with Mehdi Benatia, who will leave his position at the end of the season. “Mehdi was ready to leave earlier, I called him, we talked together and I asked him to stay until the end of the season,” Mc Court said.
“The ambition is to include OM in the small group of European clubs which aim to play in the Champions League every year. But it’s not just a question of means,” Richard then recalled, taking the example of… Liverpool, crushed by PSG two days earlier. “Some clubs have put in colossal resources, like Liverpool last summer, all to find themselves… I wouldn’t say in a situation of failure, we shouldn’t exaggerate, but there is a lot of disappointment. Qualification for the Champions League is crucial for the future of the club. And with the supporters, there is a dialogue to reinvent and resume. »
Our file on OM
If he assured that he wanted to stay at the head of OM for the long term, this was also the case for Frank McCourt, questioned about a possible sale of the club, the biggest sea serpent in the old port of Marseille, who reiterated his love for this city and this club that he does not intend to leave any time soon. “I grew up in Boston. Marseille looks like Boston when I was young. I don’t know if I was looking for something in particular but I think it was Marseille that found me. When I had the opportunity to buy the club, I liked it, I was touched. (…) My ambition is to own OM for a very long time, we will see what the future has in store for us. The most important thing is not what is best for me, what is best for OM. » And a priori, his name is Stéphane Richard.
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