Congratulations to Olympique Marseille!

pickarooney

Screw it, might as well throw up a gloating thread, as I can't find the old 'end of the season in Europe' thread.

The ding-dong battle for the Championnat came to an abrupt end last night as Auxerre finally let go of OM's shirt tails. Lyon, desperate to confirm a CL spot for next year, laid waste to the brave Bourguignonnais leaving Deschamps and his charges with their destiny in the own hands. And they didn't disappoint, seeing off a robust Rennes challenge by 3 goals to 1 in front of an ecstatic crowd in the rain-battered Vélodrome.

After 18 barren years, the Phocéens now have a plastic double to celebrate, with the League and League cup safely locked up on the south coast.

grenache

Nobody will be hip-hooraying after Marseilles antics in '93. A French team cheating? Who would have thought!

eZe^

I thought the acquisitions of Morientes/ Heinze/ Lucho would strengthen Marseille enough to win the title at the start of the season, delighted to see them win tbh.

leninbenjamin

Deschamps for United/Pool/Madrid/Milan/Juve!

edit: decent wee piece on Deschamps and OM by Amy Lawrence here.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

pickarooney

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Deschamps for United/Pool/Madrid/Milan/Juve!

edit: decent wee piece on Deschamps and OM by Amy Lawrence here.

Again? His reward for getting promoted last time was being hounded out of the club.

Lucho was the most important acquisition this year once he found his feet but full credit has to go to Dédé for bringing the wantaways (Ben Arfa and Valbuena) back into the mix and making them the focus of a new-shaped attack.

Plastic double is the league and league cup.

Nobody will be hip-hooraying after Marseilles antics in '93.

A few million OM fans beg to differ.

leninbenjamin

pickarooney wrote: »

Again? His reward for getting promoted last time was being hounded out of the club.

That was a joke, I know full well.

Have to say, I do think he's a great coach for someone so young and I've found it absolutely baffling that he's never been considered for higher profile jobs. He may not have won that much in his managerial career, but then he's always had a relatively difficult path to silverware than his contemporaries. May OM be the start of a long period of success for DD.

pickarooney

leninbenjamin wrote: »

That was a joke, I know full well.

Have to say, I do think he's a great coach for someone so young and I've found it absolutely baffling that he's never been considered for higher profile jobs.

At 41 he's already managed Monaco, Juventus and Marseille. How much higher profile would you want at that stage of your career? IMO he'd be mental to go manage Real or Chelsea if for some reason he was offered those jobs.

As for the national team, I would hope he has the sense to wait a bit before sipping from that chalice.

IvySlayer

Congrats to OM.

leninbenjamin

pickarooney wrote: »

At 41 he's already managed Monaco, Juventus and Marseille. How much higher profile would you want at that stage of your career? IMO he'd be mental to go manage Real or Chelsea if for some reason he was offered those jobs.

But in the 5 years since he left Monaco he spent 3 out of a job, and from what I've read about him that doesn't seem to have been by choice. I find that strange.

Broxi_Bear_Eire

pickarooney wrote: »

A few million OM fans beg to differ.

A few million other football fans will agree with him though

pickarooney

I knew he'd taken a year off after the Juventus job to work in youth development but it seems he was actually waiting for a big job to come up before he went back into management. He put himself in the race for the Lyon, Chelsea and France jobs but lost out on all three according to wikipedia. He would most likely have fared better than Scolari, Puel and Domenech, true enough.

pickarooney

Broxi_Bear_Eire wrote: »

A few million other football fans will agree with him though

None of your lot regret being able to sign Basile Boli on the back of it though, surely

Broxi_Bear_Eire

pickarooney wrote: »

None of your lot regret being able to sign Basile Boli on the back of it though, surely

Your right we signed him but it doesn't mean we are suddenly going to celebrate when OM win something. Nothing to do with your clubs fans by the way but the club itself :mad:

Eirebear

pickarooney wrote: »

None of your lot regret being able to sign Basile Boli on the back of it though, surely

Jesus....how to rub salt in the wounds eh?!