There is a wind of change blowing at FC Martigues. Stuck at the bottom of Ligue 2 for many months, with only 9 small points in 16 matches, the blood and gold club decided to part ways with their coach Thierry Laurey on Monday December 16. And if the Marseille leaders have entrusted the interim to Ibrahim “Bouillon” Rachidi, the deal has always been clear: “troubleshoot” et “provide a service to the club” during two matches, the 32nd final of the Coupe de France at Bourgoin-Jallieu (this Saturday, 3:30 p.m.) and the trip to Paris FC on January 3. Time for the FCM to legally separate from Thierry Laurey, and also to find a new technician.
If around ten profiles were studied, only one quickly took precedence over the others: Jean-Pierre Papin. The former 1991 Ballon d'Or, at the head of the OM reserve in N3 for a year, has never hidden his desire to find a bench in the professional world and his conflict with Ali Zarrak, in November, weakened him within the sky and white house. The departure of Marco Otero at the head of the training center and the appointment of Lassad Hasni will cause a (new) reorganization of the entire young Olympians sector, and the Martega opportunity seems too good for “JPP”.
In the days following Laurey's sidelining, Papin and Pierre Wantiez, the president of the FCM, spoke by telephone, as did Medhi Benatia and Djamal Mohamed, the sporting director of Sang et Or.
The movement, considered “win-win” by all parties, has not yet been finalized and there are still some details to be resolved, but it has a good chance of succeeding. Papin would have liked to be accompanied by his Mexican assistant, Efrain Miranda (31), but Martigues refused, considering that a technician with more experience was needed to carry out the maintenance mission which awaits the club in 2025.
Quickly, the name of Maxime D'Ornano, former coach of Saint-Brieuc and Rouen in National, emerged, but nothing has been done yet. “It will be a duo, that’s for sure,” we whisper from Francis-Turcan.
The FCM, for its part, would like to recover in addition the defender Roggerio Nyakossi and the attacker François-Régis Mughe in the form of loans, two players that JPP coaches within the Olympian Pro 2, but the sanctions of the DNCG prevent the club of Provençal Venice to recruit.
On the other hand, Martigues has the right to hire a new coach, and Jean-Pierre Papin could therefore sit on the bench for the big return to Francis-Turcan against Clermont on January 10. An attraction in itself, which could relaunch a currently disastrous Martega season. Last year, the Olympian of the century recovered the OM reserves in a similar situation and turned them around in spectacular fashion. So, repeat again?
