BEVERLY HILLS, February 02, (THEWILL) – Portuguese coach Andre Villas-Boas offered his resignation at French club Olympique de Marseille after the Ligue 1 side went against his wishes by signing Jules Olivier Ntcham before the end of the January transfer window.
Despite Villas-Boas insistence of not wanting the player, the midfielder joined Marseille from Celtic FC on deadline day on loan for the rest of the season.
Understandably, the former Tottenham and Chelsea boss considered it a slight too far and consequently felt his position as coach at Marseille was no longer tenable. He promptly offered to leave, citing a disagreement with Marseille’s sporting policy as rationale.
The 43-year-old coach noted that rumours claiming that the incidence of an attack on the training ground by angry fans at the weekend was behind his decision were untrue as that “had nothing to do with it”. He added that he was waiting for an official response from the club.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Villas-Boas said: “I submitted my resignation saying that I did not agree with the sporting policy. I don’t want anything from OM. I don’t want money.
“I’m waiting for an answer, it could be no and then we would continue. I don’t want any money, I just want to leave.
“[Signing Ntcham was] a decision that was not taken by me, I learned of it this morning from the press. He is a player that I had said no to. He was not on our list.”
The manager insisted his reaction had everything to do with professionalism, the best way things have to be done at this level.
“The results – it’s my fault. I’m very upset. But if there’s something you cannot touch, it’s my professionalism. I cannot accept this. This club has already been through a couple of messy years in terms of transfers.”
With just one win in their last eight Ligue 1 matches, these certainly are not the best times for the French club with a recent 3-1 loss at Monaco in their most recent match, their third straight loss.
Due to the incident at the training ground that was stormed by angry fans who were protesting against the poor run of form at the club, Marseille’s latest fixture against Rennes on Saturday was postponed to allow the players ample time to recover.
The club requested for time to arrive at a response to Villas-Boas’s resignation and the coach accepted their request. He turned his attention to preparing the team for Wednesday’s trip to Lens in the meanwhile.
“I’m focused on Lens. We continue until the board lets me go,” he added, as a sign of his devotion to the honoured tradition of professionalism in the sport.
There are rumours that Marseille may be nursing the intention to allow him leave as it makes it cost free for them since he is not asking for anything whilst they can attempt to convince the recently sacked Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, to take up the mantle and guide the French side to a better season end as he did when he took over at Stamford Bridge.
There are no certainties that Lampard will consider going to France as ironic as it will be that he goes to Ligue 1 where his replacement in England came from. It is possible the opportunities there might favour his coaching career, that is why the ultimate decision remains his, if the rumours pan out to be true.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
