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Welcome to the thread of the most exciting sleeping giant in France !! Club captain Didier Deschamps celebrating with the Ayews father History and glory days... Olympique de Marseille was founded by René Dufaure de Montmirail, a French sports official, in 1892 as an omnisport club. Known as Sporting Club, US Phocéenne and Football Club de Marseille in the first five years after their foundation, the club adopted the name Olympique de Marseille in 1899 in honour of the anniversary of Marseille's founding by Greeks from Phocaea some 25 centuries earlier, with the name Olympique, coming from ancient Olympic Games. The first period of Olympique de Marseille's domination of the French League started in the early 1970s under Marcel Leclerc's presidency (1965–1972). His ambition allowed Marseille to return to the First division in 1965–66. They went on to win the Coupe de France in 1969 as well as the First division in 1971 with a record of 44 goals by Josip Skoblar, helped by Roger Magnusson. The arrival of Georges Carnus and Bernard Bosquier from Saint-Étienne helped them to win the Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France in 1972. Marseille played in the European Cup in 1971–72 and 1972–73, but were knocked-out by Ajax of Johan Cruyff and Juventus, respectively. However, success was not to last. Marcel Leclerc was forced to leave the club on 19 July 1972. The President was a stubborn man, and he threatened the whole league by threatening to withdraw his professional team from Ligue 1 because the federation refused to accept three foreign players in one team (Leclerc wanted to acquire the Hungarian star Zoltán Varga but he had already the maximum number of two foreigners in his team). But Marseille decided, instead of following Leclerc against the league, to fire him.[4] Then followed an era of crisis, with Marseille only winning a Coupe de France in 1976 and being relegated to the second division, where they played with a bunch of young local players: the Minots who allowed the team to return to First division in 1984. Éric Di Meco was one of them. On 12 April 1986, Bernard Tapie became president, thanks to Marseille mayor Gaston Defferre, and promptly built the greatest team ever seen in France. His first signings were Karl-Heinz Forster and Alain Giresse, who were bought after the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Tapie signed a large number of highly regarded players over the next few years in his pursuit of the European Cup, such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle, Klaus Allofs, Enzo Francescoli, Abedi Pelé, Didier Deschamps, Basile Boli, Marcel Desailly, Rudi Völler and Eric Cantona as well as appointing high-profile coaches like Franz Beckenbauer, Gérard Gili and Raymond Goethals. Between 1989 and 1992, Olympique de Marseille won four league titles in a row and the French Cup. The highlight of the club's history is winning the new format Champions League in 1993. Basile Boli scored the only goal against Italy's Milan in the final held in Munich's Olympic Stadium. That triumph was the first time ever for a French club and it made Didier Deschamps and Fabien Barthez the youngest captain and goalkeeper, respectively, to capture the title. This triumph, however, was followed by a decade of decline. In 1994, due to financial irregularities and a match fixing scandal involving then president Bernard Tapie, they suffered enforced relegation to the second division, where Marseille stayed two years before returning to the First division. Moreover, they lost their 1992–93 Division 1 title and the right to play in the UEFA Champions League 1993-94, the 1993 European Super Cup and the 1993 Intercontinental Cup. Marseille returned to the top flight in 1996 with backing from Adidas's owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus. He chose Rolland Courbis as coach, signed Fabrizio Ravanelli, Laurent Blanc, and Andreas Köpke, and Marseille finished 11th for his return. For the 1998–99 season, the team celebrated their centenary and built a team of stars: Robert Pirès, Florian Maurice, and Christophe Dugarry, culminating in a second-place finish in the French championship, behind Bordeaux and an appearance in the UEFA Cup Final in 1999, losing to Parma. Courbis left the team in November 1999 after a poor start to the season. The closest Marseille got to another trophy was when they reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2004, impressively beating Dnipro, Internazionale, Liverpool, and Newcastle United along the way. But they were beaten in the final by newly crowned Spanish champions Valencia and once again fans were forced to continue waiting for the next trophy to come along. In 2005, Marseille succeeded in winning the Intertoto Cup, beating the likes of Lazio and Deportivo de La Coruña in doing so, and earning another shot at the UEFA Cup. The club struggled in the 2011–12 season, going to the bottom of the Ligue 1 table after six matches. Nevertheless, Marseille rebounded, winning 3–0 against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, as well as a 3–0 success over rivals PSG in November of that year. Marseille ended 2011 with a good sequence, also qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the second season running. In February 2012, Marseille embarked on 13 games without victory, but rallied to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since winning the competition in 1993. Despite an indifferent club form, OM lost to eventual finalists Bayern Munich, and slumped to an overall tenth-place finish in Ligue 1. However, the club retained the Coupe de la Ligue for the third year running, beating Lyon 1–0 in the Final. In the summer of 2012, Deschamps resigned, and later taking on the France job. Elie Baup took over, leading the club to a surprising second-place finish in the 2012–13 season despite selling multiple key players, including Loïc Rémy, César Azpilicueta and Stéphane Mbia. Marseille returned to the Champions League, spending close to €40 million on the likes of Dimitri Payet, Florian Thauvin and Giannelli Imbula. The club were top of the table at the end of August 2013, but OM proceeded to lose all six games in Europe, suffering the ignominy of becoming the first French team, and the biggest European team to date, to have picked up zero points in a Champions League group stage. Baup was sacked on 7 December 2013, following the 1–0 defeat to Nantes at Stade Velodrome. He was replaced on an interim basis by Jose Anigo. In Anigo's brief tenure, OM went out of the two cups, and struggled, leading to continued protests and jeers by fans. The club finished sixth in the 2014 season, missing out on an important European competition place for the first time in ten years. Anigo left the club soon after, taking on an ambassadorial/scouting role in North Africa, his first post outside of the city for more than four decades. Modern days... We had a tough time with Margarita Louis Dreyfus last days at the club... No money to spend, selling our top players every year, no trophies on our shelves A new era has come with american new owner Frank McCourt, who definitely wants to give Marseille a boost in order to be successful again which is the club D.N.A !! But bad choices were made, in 2019, you have to start all over again with little cash Stadium If you take in charge Marseille you will discover the wonderful Stade Velodrome, fully renovated in 2014, you now have a breath taking place of 67.000 fans which are going to help you to win ! It's obviously the biggest stadium available for a French Ligue 1 team so far, but you will have to be good enough to fill all the empty seats that the stadium used to have in the last years...and Marseille fans are really tough to convince so be smart ! Your facilities are also excellent, and will need few improvements New attendance record this year against Lyon with 65369 fans OM CHAMPIONS PROJECT Marseille just got a new boss Mr Franck McCourt, american bilionnaire, which already came with his ideas and a project "OM CHAMPIONS PROJECT" The aim for him is to be on the top 3 in the league, which means in France, Champions League football, In order to achieve these goals Marseille's boss pumped some significant money last winter bringing back home Payet and some young bolld like Sanson for more than 40M€, which was a huge improvment for the squad To build up this project former As Roma manager was hired, Rudi Garcia, after one high emotionnal season where Marseille reached the Europa League final in 2018, the following season had been horrendous Time to change, and you owner doesn't want to spend money anymore, so the "Special Two" will have to deal with it OM broken project seems more appropriate this year AVB is Zubizareta choice, a new era after Rudi Garcia's tough end and not a bad start IRL Marseille celebrating his 120th birthday against Lyon 10 November 2019 Board expectations and club vision The board wants you to achieve a top 4 finish, which means reach Europa league football in France, not so easy If you decide to start with the transfer window open You will get a little bit more than 5M€ available (which is more than IRL) and nothing (7K!) availbale for wages As last year, and i would say as usual since Evra flying kick departure, you will absolutely need : - A leftback to provide competition to Amavi, only player able to fill the spot at the moment, crazy The club vision is really interesting for my taste, as you will have to start from scratch and rely on your knowledge and your scouting department You only have 2 NON EU players in the team, so you would be able to add 2 more players, choose them wisely I would not recommend to modify these expecations, even more than last year PSG is completely out of your league, Lyon and Monaco will be serious opponents, their squad are more competitive then yours Don't forget, to reach Champions League football in France you need to be at least 3rd Rivals As you are a playing a successful club, you'll obviously have plenty of rivals, in the south of France you'll have derbies against AS Monaco and OGCN, but the main thing is Paris Saint Germain !! That's the game you MUST not lose ! You can also add Olympique Lyonnais, rivalry on and off the pitch had been brutal as hell last year, it's may be even more important to beat Lyon than PSG now ! Would you stop our 8 years streak without a single victory against PSG in any competitions ?? Would you be able to bring back Champions League football in Marseille instead of watching PSG and Lyon on Tv ? Kit Why Marseille ? If you like to manage a really thin squad and develop your youngsters, it's for you ! Because you will have to (re)build an entire squad with very limited money ! Because overpaying players around their 30's is not an option anymore !! You need, and will have to build on young players to try to succeed !! This year is special, 120 yeras of existence, you need to offer a gift to Marseille fans Because you have exciting youngsters to develop !! Because your have the biggestin Ligue 1 !! Because you have to stop the losing streak against PSG for 8 years now ! Because your last trophy was in 2012 ! Because your DNA is to bring back European football at the Velodrome !! ALLEZ L'OM

Welcome back to the thread of the only French team who almost won Europa League !! History and glory days... Olympique de Marseille was founded by René Dufaure de Montmirail, a French sports official, in 1892 as an omnisport club. Known as Sporting Club, US Phocéenne and Football Club de Marseille in the first five years after their foundation, the club adopted the name Olympique de Marseille in 1899 in honour of the anniversary of Marseille's founding by Greeks from Phocaea some 25 centuries earlier, with the name Olympique, coming from ancient Olympic Games. The first period of Olympique de Marseille's domination of the French League started in the early 1970s under Marcel Leclerc's presidency (1965–1972). His ambition allowed Marseille to return to the First division in 1965–66. They went on to win the Coupe de France in 1969 as well as the First division in 1971 with a record of 44 goals by Josip Skoblar, helped by Roger Magnusson. The arrival of Georges Carnus and Bernard Bosquier from Saint-Étienne helped them to win the Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France in 1972. Marseille played in the European Cup in 1971–72 and 1972–73, but were knocked-out by Ajax of Johan Cruyff and Juventus, respectively. However, success was not to last. Marcel Leclerc was forced to leave the club on 19 July 1972. The President was a stubborn man, and he threatened the whole league by threatening to withdraw his professional team from Ligue 1 because the federation refused to accept three foreign players in one team (Leclerc wanted to acquire the Hungarian star Zoltán Varga but he had already the maximum number of two foreigners in his team). But Marseille decided, instead of following Leclerc against the league, to fire him.[4] Then followed an era of crisis, with Marseille only winning a Coupe de France in 1976 and being relegated to the second division, where they played with a bunch of young local players: the Minots who allowed the team to return to First division in 1984. Éric Di Meco was one of them. On 12 April 1986, Bernard Tapie became president, thanks to Marseille mayor Gaston Defferre, and promptly built the greatest team ever seen in France. His first signings were Karl-Heinz Forster and Alain Giresse, who were bought after the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Tapie signed a large number of highly regarded players over the next few years in his pursuit of the European Cup, such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle, Klaus Allofs, Enzo Francescoli, Abedi Pelé, Didier Deschamps, Basile Boli, Marcel Desailly, Rudi Völler and Eric Cantona as well as appointing high-profile coaches like Franz Beckenbauer, Gérard Gili and Raymond Goethals. Between 1989 and 1992, Olympique de Marseille won four league titles in a row and the French Cup. The highlight of the club's history is winning the new format Champions League in 1993. Basile Boli scored the only goal against Italy's Milan in the final held in Munich's Olympic Stadium. That triumph was the first time ever for a French club and it made Didier Deschamps and Fabien Barthez the youngest captain and goalkeeper, respectively, to capture the title. This triumph, however, was followed by a decade of decline. In 1994, due to financial irregularities and a match fixing scandal involving then president Bernard Tapie, they suffered enforced relegation to the second division, where Marseille stayed two years before returning to the First division. Moreover, they lost their 1992–93 Division 1 title and the right to play in the UEFA Champions League 1993-94, the 1993 European Super Cup and the 1993 Intercontinental Cup. Marseille returned to the top flight in 1996 with backing from Adidas's owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus. He chose Rolland Courbis as coach, signed Fabrizio Ravanelli, Laurent Blanc, and Andreas Köpke, and Marseille finished 11th for his return. For the 1998–99 season, the team celebrated their centenary and built a team of stars: Robert Pirès, Florian Maurice, and Christophe Dugarry, culminating in a second-place finish in the French championship, behind Bordeaux and an appearance in the UEFA Cup Final in 1999, losing to Parma. Courbis left the team in November 1999 after a poor start to the season. The closest Marseille got to another trophy was when they reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2004, impressively beating Dnipro, Internazionale, Liverpool, and Newcastle United along the way. But they were beaten in the final by newly crowned Spanish champions Valencia and once again fans were forced to continue waiting for the next trophy to come along. In 2005, Marseille succeeded in winning the Intertoto Cup, beating the likes of Lazio and Deportivo de La Coruña in doing so, and earning another shot at the UEFA Cup. The club struggled in the 2011–12 season, going to the bottom of the Ligue 1 table after six matches. Nevertheless, Marseille rebounded, winning 3–0 against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, as well as a 3–0 success over rivals PSG in November of that year. Marseille ended 2011 with a good sequence, also qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the second season running. In February 2012, Marseille embarked on 13 games without victory, but rallied to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since winning the competition in 1993. Despite an indifferent club form, OM lost to eventual finalists Bayern Munich, and slumped to an overall tenth-place finish in Ligue 1. However, the club retained the Coupe de la Ligue for the third year running, beating Lyon 1–0 in the Final. In the summer of 2012, Deschamps resigned, and later taking on the France job. Elie Baup took over, leading the club to a surprising second-place finish in the 2012–13 season despite selling multiple key players, including Loïc Rémy, César Azpilicueta and Stéphane Mbia. Marseille returned to the Champions League, spending close to €40 million on the likes of Dimitri Payet, Florian Thauvin and Giannelli Imbula. The club were top of the table at the end of August 2013, but OM proceeded to lose all six games in Europe, suffering the ignominy of becoming the first French team, and the biggest European team to date, to have picked up zero points in a Champions League group stage. Baup was sacked on 7 December 2013, following the 1–0 defeat to Nantes at Stade Velodrome. He was replaced on an interim basis by Jose Anigo. In Anigo's brief tenure, OM went out of the two cups, and struggled, leading to continued protests and jeers by fans. The club finished sixth in the 2014 season, missing out on an important European competition place for the first time in ten years. Anigo left the club soon after, taking on an ambassadorial/scouting role in North Africa, his first post outside of the city for more than four decades. Modern days... We had a tough time with Margarita Louis Dreyfus last days at the club... No money to spend, selling our top players every year, no trophies on our shelves A new era has come with american new owner Frank Mccourt, who definitely wants to give Marseille a boost in order to be successful again which is the club D.N.A !! Stadium If you take in charge Marseille you will discover the wonderful Stade Velodrome, fully renovated in 2014, you now have a breath taking place of 67.000 fans which are going to help you to win ! It's obviously the biggest stadium available for a French Ligue 1 team so far, but you will have to be good enough to fill all the empty seats that the stadium used to have in the last years...and Marseille fans are really tough to convince so be smart ! Your facilities are also excellent, and will need few improvements OM CHAMPIONS PROJECT Marseille just got a new boss Mr Franck McCourt, american bilionnaire, which already came with his ideas and a project "OM CHAMPIONS PROJECT" The aim for him is to be on the top 3 in the league, which means in France, Champions League football, In order to achieve these goals Marseille's boss pumped some significant money last winter bringing back home Payet and some young bolld like Sanson for more than 40M€, which was a huge improvment for the squad The backroom staff had been improved as well with the likes of Zubizareta joining the club as D.O.F New boss and new President all together SEASON 2017/2018 Unexpected and cruel, Marseille reached an European Final after an incredible run with some epic games and atmosphere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1CeuEqvVZA Rivals As you are a playing a successful club, you'll obviously have plenty of rivals, in the south of France you'll have derbies against AS Monaco and OGCN, but the main thing is Paris Saint Germain !! That's the game you MUST not lose ! You can also add Olympique Lyonnais, rivalry on and off the pitch had been brutal as hell last year, it's may be even more important to beat Lyon than PSG now ! Would you stop our 17 18 games streak without a single victory against PSG in any competitions ?? Would you be able to bring back Champions League football in Marseille instead of watching Lyon on Tv ? Kit Why Marseille ? Because you will be lucky enough to manage 3 World Cup Winners !! Because this team requires a skilled manager to take the club to another level !! Because your last victory against PSG was in 2011 !! Because you have to stop PSG dominance and Lyon provocations !! Because your stadium is the most beautiful and noisy in Ligue 1 !! Because the challenge is huge in France as you have top teams around and you're a sleeping giant !! Because your DNA is to bring back another European Trophy on our shelves !! ALLEZ L'OM

Welcome back to the thread of the only french team who won the Champions League, l’OM ! History and glory days... Olympique de Marseille was founded by René Dufaure de Montmirail, a French sports official, in 1892 as an omnisport club. Known as Sporting Club, US Phocéenne and Football Club de Marseille in the first five years after their foundation, the club adopted the name Olympique de Marseille in 1899 in honour of the anniversary of Marseille's founding by Greeks from Phocaea some 25 centuries earlier, with the name Olympique, coming from ancient Olympic Games. The first period of Olympique de Marseille's domination of the French League started in the early 1970s under Marcel Leclerc's presidency (1965–1972). His ambition allowed Marseille to return to the First division in 1965–66. They went on to win the Coupe de France in 1969 as well as the First division in 1971 with a record of 44 goals by Josip Skoblar, helped by Roger Magnusson. The arrival of Georges Carnus and Bernard Bosquier from Saint-Étienne helped them to win the Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France in 1972. Marseille played in the European Cup in 1971–72 and 1972–73, but were knocked-out by Ajax of Johan Cruyff and Juventus, respectively. However, success was not to last. Marcel Leclerc was forced to leave the club on 19 July 1972. The President was a stubborn man, and he threatened the whole league by threatening to withdraw his professional team from Ligue 1 because the federation refused to accept three foreign players in one team (Leclerc wanted to acquire the Hungarian star Zoltán Varga but he had already the maximum number of two foreigners in his team). But Marseille decided, instead of following Leclerc against the league, to fire him.[4] Then followed an era of crisis, with Marseille only winning a Coupe de France in 1976 and being relegated to the second division, where they played with a bunch of young local players: the Minots who allowed the team to return to First division in 1984. Éric Di Meco was one of them. On 12 April 1986, Bernard Tapie became president, thanks to Marseille mayor Gaston Defferre, and promptly built the greatest team ever seen in France. His first signings were Karl-Heinz Forster and Alain Giresse, who were bought after the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Tapie signed a large number of highly regarded players over the next few years in his pursuit of the European Cup, such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle, Klaus Allofs, Enzo Francescoli, Abedi Pelé, Didier Deschamps, Basile Boli, Marcel Desailly, Rudi Völler and Eric Cantona as well as appointing high-profile coaches like Franz Beckenbauer, Gérard Gili and Raymond Goethals. Between 1989 and 1992, Olympique de Marseille won four league titles in a row and the French Cup. The highlight of the club's history is winning the new format Champions League in 1993. Basile Boli scored the only goal against Italy's Milan in the final held in Munich's Olympic Stadium. That triumph was the first time ever for a French club and it made Didier Deschamps and Fabien Barthez the youngest captain and goalkeeper, respectively, to capture the title. This triumph, however, was followed by a decade of decline. In 1994, due to financial irregularities and a match fixing scandal involving then president Bernard Tapie, they suffered enforced relegation to the second division, where Marseille stayed two years before returning to the First division. Moreover, they lost their 1992–93 Division 1 title and the right to play in the UEFA Champions League 1993-94, the 1993 European Super Cup and the 1993 Intercontinental Cup. Marseille returned to the top flight in 1996 with backing from Adidas's owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus. He chose Rolland Courbis as coach, signed Fabrizio Ravanelli, Laurent Blanc, and Andreas Köpke, and Marseille finished 11th for his return. For the 1998–99 season, the team celebrated their centenary and built a team of stars: Robert Pirès, Florian Maurice, and Christophe Dugarry, culminating in a second-place finish in the French championship, behind Bordeaux and an appearance in the UEFA Cup Final in 1999, losing to Parma. Courbis left the team in November 1999 after a poor start to the season. The closest Marseille got to another trophy was when they reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2004, impressively beating Dnipro, Internazionale, Liverpool, and Newcastle United along the way. But they were beaten in the final by newly crowned Spanish champions Valencia and once again fans were forced to continue waiting for the next trophy to come along. In 2005, Marseille succeeded in winning the Intertoto Cup, beating the likes of Lazio and Deportivo de La Coruña in doing so, and earning another shot at the UEFA Cup. The club struggled in the 2011–12 season, going to the bottom of the Ligue 1 table after six matches. Nevertheless, Marseille rebounded, winning 3–0 against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, as well as a 3–0 success over rivals PSG in November of that year. Marseille ended 2011 with a good sequence, also qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the second season running. In February 2012, Marseille embarked on 13 games without victory, but rallied to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since winning the competition in 1993. Despite an indifferent club form, OM lost to eventual finalists Bayern Munich, and slumped to an overall tenth-place finish in Ligue 1. However, the club retained the Coupe de la Ligue for the third year running, beating Lyon 1–0 in the Final. In the summer of 2012, Deschamps resigned, and later taking on the France job. Elie Baup took over, leading the club to a surprising second-place finish in the 2012–13 season despite selling multiple key players, including Loïc Rémy, César Azpilicueta and Stéphane Mbia. Marseille returned to the Champions League, spending close to €40 million on the likes of Dimitri Payet, Florian Thauvin and Giannelli Imbula. The club were top of the table at the end of August 2013, but OM proceeded to lose all six games in Europe, suffering the ignominy of becoming the first French team, and the biggest European team to date, to have picked up zero points in a Champions League group stage. Baup was sacked on 7 December 2013, following the 1–0 defeat to Nantes at Stade Velodrome. He was replaced on an interim basis by Jose Anigo. In Anigo's brief tenure, OM went out of the two cups, and struggled, leading to continued protests and jeers by fans. The club finished sixth in the 2014 season, missing out on an important European competition place for the first time in ten years. Anigo left the club soon after, taking on an ambassadorial/scouting role in North Africa, his first post outside of the city for more than four decades. Modern days... We had a tough time with Margarita Louis Dreyfus last days at the club... No money to spend, selling our top players every year, no trophies on our shelves A new era has come with american new owner Frank Mccourt, who definitely wants to give Marseille a boost in order to be successful again which is the club D.N.A !! Stadium If you take in charge Marseille you will discover the wonderful Stade Velodrome, fully renovated in 2014, you now have a breath taking place of 67.000 fans which are going to help you to win ! It's obviously the biggest stadium available for a French Ligue 1 team so far, but you will have to be good enough to fill all the empty seats that the stadium used to have in the last years...and Marseille fans are really tough to convince so be smart ! Your facilities are also excellent, and will need few improvements OM CHAMPIONS PROJECT Marseille just got a new boss Mr Franck McCourt, american bilionnaire, which already came with his ideas and a project "OM CHAMPIONS PROJECT" The aim for him is to be on the top 3 in the league, which means in France Champions League football, In order to achieve these goals Marseille's boss pumped some significant money last winter bringing back home Payet, Evra and some young bolld like Sanson for more than 40M€, which was a huge improvment for the squad The backroom staff had been improved as well with the likes of Zubizareta joining the club as D.O.F New boss and new President all together Rivals As you are a playing a successful club, you'll obviously have plenty of rivals, in the south of France you'll have derbies against AS Monaco and OGCN, Olympique Lyonnais, but the main thing is Paris Saint Germain !! That's the game you MUST not lose ! Would you stop our 14 games streak without a single victory against PSG in any competitions ?? Kit Why Marseille ? Because you now have a boss who wants to give Marseille a great boost and will give you money for that !! Because your last victory against PSG was in 2011 !! Because you have to stop PSG dominance !! Because your stadium is the most beautiful in Ligue 1 Because the challenge is huge in France as you have top teams around and you're a sleeping giant !! Because you need and have to bring back another Champions League on our shelves !! Link for last year thread ALLEZ L'OM

Welcome back to the thread of the only french team who won the Champions League, l’OM ! History and glory days... Olympique de Marseille was founded by René Dufaure de Montmirail, a French sports official, in 1892 as an omnisport club. Known as Sporting Club, US Phocéenne and Football Club de Marseille in the first five years after their foundation, the club adopted the name Olympique de Marseille in 1899 in honour of the anniversary of Marseille's founding by Greeks from Phocaea some 25 centuries earlier, with the name Olympique, coming from ancient Olympic Games. The first period of Olympique de Marseille's domination of the French League started in the early 1970s under Marcel Leclerc's presidency (1965–1972). His ambition allowed Marseille to return to the First division in 1965–66. They went on to win the Coupe de France in 1969 as well as the First division in 1971 with a record of 44 goals by Josip Skoblar, helped by Roger Magnusson. The arrival of Georges Carnus and Bernard Bosquier from Saint-Étienne helped them to win the Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France in 1972. Marseille played in the European Cup in 1971–72 and 1972–73, but were knocked-out by Ajax of Johan Cruyff and Juventus, respectively. However, success was not to last. Marcel Leclerc was forced to leave the club on 19 July 1972. The President was a stubborn man, and he threatened the whole league by threatening to withdraw his professional team from Ligue 1 because the federation refused to accept three foreign players in one team (Leclerc wanted to acquire the Hungarian star Zoltán Varga but he had already the maximum number of two foreigners in his team). But Marseille decided, instead of following Leclerc against the league, to fire him.[4] Then followed an era of crisis, with Marseille only winning a Coupe de France in 1976 and being relegated to the second division, where they played with a bunch of young local players: the Minots who allowed the team to return to First division in 1984. Éric Di Meco was one of them. On 12 April 1986, Bernard Tapie became president, thanks to Marseille mayor Gaston Defferre, and promptly built the greatest team ever seen in France. His first signings were Karl-Heinz Forster and Alain Giresse, who were bought after the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Tapie signed a large number of highly regarded players over the next few years in his pursuit of the European Cup, such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle, Klaus Allofs, Enzo Francescoli, Abedi Pelé, Didier Deschamps, Basile Boli, Marcel Desailly, Rudi Völler and Eric Cantona as well as appointing high-profile coaches like Franz Beckenbauer, Gérard Gili and Raymond Goethals. Between 1989 and 1992, Olympique de Marseille won four league titles in a row and the French Cup. The highlight of the club's history is winning the new format Champions League in 1993. Basile Boli scored the only goal against Italy's Milan in the final held in Munich's Olympic Stadium. That triumph was the first time ever for a French club and it made Didier Deschamps and Fabien Barthez the youngest captain and goalkeeper, respectively, to capture the title. This triumph, however, was followed by a decade of decline. In 1994, due to financial irregularities and a match fixing scandal involving then president Bernard Tapie, they suffered enforced relegation to the second division, where Marseille stayed two years before returning to the First division. Moreover, they lost their 1992–93 Division 1 title and the right to play in the UEFA Champions League 1993-94, the 1993 European Super Cup and the 1993 Intercontinental Cup. Marseille returned to the top flight in 1996 with backing from Adidas's owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus. He chose Rolland Courbis as coach, signed Fabrizio Ravanelli, Laurent Blanc, and Andreas Köpke, and Marseille finished 11th for his return. For the 1998–99 season, the team celebrated their centenary and built a team of stars: Robert Pirès, Florian Maurice, and Christophe Dugarry, culminating in a second-place finish in the French championship, behind Bordeaux and an appearance in the UEFA Cup Final in 1999, losing to Parma. Courbis left the team in November 1999 after a poor start to the season. The closest Marseille got to another trophy was when they reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2004, impressively beating Dnipro, Internazionale, Liverpool, and Newcastle United along the way. But they were beaten in the final by newly crowned Spanish champions Valencia and once again fans were forced to continue waiting for the next trophy to come along. In 2005, Marseille succeeded in winning the Intertoto Cup, beating the likes of Lazio and Deportivo de La Coruña in doing so, and earning another shot at the UEFA Cup. The club struggled in the 2011–12 season, going to the bottom of the Ligue 1 table after six matches. Nevertheless, Marseille rebounded, winning 3–0 against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, as well as a 3–0 success over rivals PSG in November of that year. Marseille ended 2011 with a good sequence, also qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the second season running. In February 2012, Marseille embarked on 13 games without victory, but rallied to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since winning the competition in 1993. Despite an indifferent club form, OM lost to eventual finalists Bayern Munich, and slumped to an overall tenth-place finish in Ligue 1. However, the club retained the Coupe de la Ligue for the third year running, beating Lyon 1–0 in the Final. In the summer of 2012, Deschamps resigned, and later taking on the France job. Elie Baup took over, leading the club to a surprising second-place finish in the 2012–13 season despite selling multiple key players, including Loïc Rémy, César Azpilicueta and Stéphane Mbia. Marseille returned to the Champions League, spending close to €40 million on the likes of Dimitri Payet, Florian Thauvin and Giannelli Imbula. The club were top of the table at the end of August 2013, but OM proceeded to lose all six games in Europe, suffering the ignominy of becoming the first French team, and the biggest European team to date, to have picked up zero points in a Champions League group stage. Baup was sacked on 7 December 2013, following the 1–0 defeat to Nantes at Stade Velodrome. He was replaced on an interim basis by Jose Anigo. In Anigo's brief tenure, OM went out of the two cups, and struggled, leading to continued protests and jeers by fans. The club finished sixth in the 2014 season, missing out on an important European competition place for the first time in ten years. Anigo left the club soon after, taking on an ambassadorial/scouting role in North Africa, his first post outside of the city for more than four decades. Modern days... Last season had been awful, after shocking departure of Bielsa after only one game, the now ex board appointed Michel as head coach, what a disaster !! We ended up the season getting 3 home wins and 16 draws during the whole campaign !! As a result the fully crowded stadium that we use to see during the glory days and also Bielsa's season is now almost empty and you can easily understand why ! And if you add to all this, the fact that you lost this summer club captain Mandanda, hot prospect like Mendy, Nkoudou and established player N'Koulou without replacing them... Will you make it to bring back your huge fan base in the stadium ? Stadium If you take in charge Marseille you will discover the wonderful Stade Velodrome, fully renovated in 2014, you now have a breath taking place of 67.000 fans which are going to help you to win ! It's obviously the biggest stadium available for a French Ligue 1 team so far, but thanks to Michel great work last year it's desperately empty...Now that Garcia had been hired IRL it should be a different story hopefully, Your facilities are also excellent, and will need few improvements The American Revolution !! The cold russian days of Margarita Louis Dreyfus, ex owner, are now gone ! The deal had been sealed the 17th of October 2016 Marseille just got a new boss Mr Franck McCourt, american bilionnaire, which already came with his ideas and a project "OM CHAMPIONS PROJECT" But what does it mean ?? New owner Franck McCourt and the new president Mr Eyraud want to make Marseille great again, the objective is to be in the top 3 yearly to play champions league football and to win it! As a result he stated that he would make significant effort on the transfer market, which was not the case at all in recent years and most of all this summer, and pump 200M€ over the next 3 seasons, just to give you an idea of the guy New boss and ,thanks god, ex boss together Rivals As you are a playing a successful club, you'll obviously have plenty of rivals, in the south of France you'll have derbies against AS Monaco and OGCN, Olympique Lyonnais, but the main thing is Paris Saint Germain !! That's the game you MUST not lose ! Would you stop our 12 games streak without a single victory against PSG in any competitions ?? Kit Why Marseille ? Because you now have a boss who wants to give Marseille a great boost and will give you money for that !! Because your last victory against PSG was in 2011 !! Because you have to stop PSG dominance !! Because your stadium is the most beautiful in Ligue 1 Because this year's team is even worst than last year and you have to start over from scratch !! Because you need and have to bring back another Champions League on our shelves !! ALLEZ L'OM