MARCELO BIELSA SENSATIONALLY stepped down as Marseille manager on Saturday evening – immediately after his side lost to Caen in their first game of the season.
The much-loved Argentine only arrived at the Ligue 1 giants in May of last year but after an encouraging start, the side struggled and eventually finished a distant fourth.
After the slender home loss last night, Bielsa handed his letter of resignation to club president Vincent Labrune before publicly announcing his decision to resign in his post-match press conference.
“I have finished my work here”, he said.
“I will return to my home country.”
Local newspaper La Provence have published Bielsa’s letter and the 60-year-old outlined how a contractual dispute was the root cause of him stepping away.
As you know, I turned down several major offers because I wanted to stay at Marseille. I don’t regret that, and I did it with a lot of enthusiasm as I was very attracted by this project. I adapted to the constant variations on the sporting front, but after three months of discussions and two days before the start of the competitive games, I cannot accept the situation of instability that they generated by wanting to change the contract.”
Labrune later expressed his shock at the development and said a meeting on Wednesday to go through some minor details of a proposed new deal had been cordial, with all of Bielsa’s demands being met.
