SpongeBob is no more!!!

By: Magnusson | January 15th, 2009

Our owner, billionaire Robert Louis-Dreyfus, a.k.a. Spongebob doesn’t grant many interviews. But when he does, he rarely beats around the bush and goes straight to the point, as he does with his business deals. In one of he most interesting reads in recent history, Robert Louis-Dreyfus gave french newspaper L’Equipe an interview published yesterday and to say the least, he puts the pressure on everyone.
In a very candid conversation, the man who invested 200 million Euros out of his own pocket voiced his frustration of us not having won anything so far and says that for our season to be considered a succes, it would mean that we are once again in the first two positions AND to win a trophy (either Coupe de France or UEFA Cup). But this is not the most surprising since it has been our objective for the last two seasons.
Where everyone starts talking is when the boss threatens to fire everyone, as he decided he wouldn’t be selling the club anymore, to anyone:

“I’m only repeating the objectives announced by Pape Diouf, Jose Anigo and Eric Gerets in the press early in the season. They made choices of players this summer. Me, I proposed others we could have gotten easily (Alex and Gourcuff…). I respect their choices, but there must be results. It was a way to remind them that they had the means and that their hands were free when they made those choices. But one day, there will have to be consequences. And if these goals are not met, I think they will draw their own conclusions (…) We will, for sure, have a few conversations.”

It’s nothing but fair that the man who is paying the bills is frustrated when he sees that two of the players he w<as puching for are having incredible seasons. Our staff hoped that Mathieu Valbuena would transform into another Ribéry and take Samir Nasri’s spot seeminglessly. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen and Yoann Gourcuff has been hailed as the latest of the “New Zidanes” and may secure his spot in the national team with the amazing four-month run he’s been having. In the meantime, Valbuena is only now starting to look like himself.

Keeping on with the players, Luois-Dreyfus confesses that he was a little hurt in his pride: “I always hope that my recommendations are followed, but perhaps they thought that Kone, Ben Arfa and Hilton were better choices than the ones I wanted. The truth is, everyone needs to rest in his place. Pape Diouf has full powers to make up the team.”
The only moment where he says he pushed really hard was when he felt like Cissé needed to move: “Why did I prompt his departure? Simply because he had the biggest salary in the Ligue, 400,000 euros net per month, and he was not included in the team as a starter. It is a luxury that OM can not afford. I prefer to invest in other players in that case.”

Once again, understandable. But aside from those points, RLD confessed to still be madly in love with the club and says he is still willing to pay for a few more players, in spite of Brandao’s recent signing: “What striker can we have at mercato if we follow the decision of the technical staff to recruit for this position? Sergio “Kun” Agüero (Atletico Madrid), we can not have him anymore. He was very interested last year, but he blew up in the meantime and became very expensive. I called Peter Kenyon (Chelsea CEO) to the ask on Didier Drogba. They are not in any way shape or form ready to let him go. I thought about Adriano (Inter Milan), I contacted Massimo Moratti, but for now they’re stalling.”
It would be interesting to see today what Diouf, Anigo and Gerets respond to that.