Press Conference: Bruno Génésio & Grégory Lorenzi speak about a new era at Marseille
A sweltering Commanderie was the scene for the presentation of Bruno Génésio as new OM manager and Grégory Lorenzi as sporting director. Kicking off a new era at the club, the pair spoke about their hopes ambitions for the upcoming season amidst a difficult financial reality for the club.
A new cycle
Stéphane Richard: Hello thanks for being there this morning. The objective today is for you to get to know Reg and Bruno. I want to wish them a welcome at Marsielle. I'm personally very happy that they have accepted to take on this challenge next to me. Bruno is a very experienced manager Greg is very experienced as a sporting director.
This choice is a choice which has been thought about thoroughly, decided after several weeks of discussion with one another. These two professionals symbolise the new cycle of OM. I found a delicate situation when I arrived both in the sporting sense and financially, you know the figures. The objective is to place the club on new rails, to find a form of stability and economic viability.
I feel it is essential for the future of OM that we need to control our finances whilst having sporting ambition. We will have the season which will get underway. I wish to rely on two personalities who respond perfectly to what we are looking for. Their temperament, their indiscretion, that understand the workings of the club. Football is a collective sport, and that is a collective issue to manage the club. We will not be disconnected to the rest of the club.
The need for emotions
Bruno Génésio: I was born nearly 60 years ago in Lyon. I had a player career, then became a trainer, I’ll tell you the reason why I wanted to do this job. I had the opportunity to do a lot of other jobs in my time at clubs. During all these years, nearly 20 years in professional staff, what has marked me the most is meeting all sorts of people. What missed me when I was not a player anymore was the emotions. I needed that, the adrenaline, which gives us energy. The choice of Marseille was natural to me, because it is a historic club. It’s been 30 years since the club has been promoted back to Ligue 1 with the minots, because the youth will be important in the future. It represents everything that animates me, the fervour around the team and at the stadium, I'm impatient to discover it as the head of the OM team. The president was very clear in our first exchanges, OM needs to be an ambitious club, but we should be, we’ve seen clubs with less means being very very successful.
Marseille 'one of the biggest clubs in Europe'
Grégory Lorenzi: I am very happy to be among you and to reply to your questions. I’m 42, I’m very happy to be the new sporting director of Olympique de Marseille, I see my role as a constructor, I was at Stade Brestois for many years. I want to be into a long term project. I constructed that project as one of the youngest sporting directors. Thanks to this work and continuity, we reached the summit, we had a European Cup run which was more than honorable.
For me it was important to give a new orientation in my career, when the project of OM was found in front of me, it was very important to accept a project from a club like Marseille, one of the biggest clubs in Europe. It’s certainly an exciting challenge, but there will be challenges with finances, but it is with a lot of humility that I accept this challenge. It will take time, but I am very motivated, to be able to have this ambition, and be able to meet the challenges and expectations. Genesio
As I said, It’s important that OM are in European competition thanks to the work of my predecessor, which is a place which qualifies us for the Europa league. It’s an honour and a source of pride to be able to train Olympique de Marseille. Since I came here, I see all the players al the time, people in the road even when I was on holiday. There is a passion, ferver, and expectation that doesn’t exist elsewhere. For me it is obvious to push the discussion maximum and be here at the reprise, it took more time than expected, but I’m happy to be here at the head of the team.
Génésio's style of play
Bruno Génésio: It’s true I’m a pragmatic trainer, everyone has their method, there were good things done before that we have to respect. We also have to adapt to the individual qualities of the team. I have principles and beliefs, I think you know, I want a team which is proactive in getting back the ball, and with the ball I want a lot of freedom. I want my players to move, but I also want our positions to be filled all the time. I want the team to give off the image of having these values, winning is very important. What the team gives off, the solidarity, the desire to sweat for the shirt, I want my team to show that to give everything. At the end of the game there is a result. I want no regrets at the end of the game. I’m convinced if we have this mentality, the results will follow. This was what we worked on in other clubs.
The Passion around the club
Bruno Génésio: A victory here is not the same as victories in other clubs. The same goes for defeats, it's the context around the club which is like that. But we know that, if you can’t accept that then you shouldn’t come here. I heard a lot of things that you should be a bit crazy to manage OM, but I don’t believe it. I think that being lucid and having a cool head in difficult moments is also important. Those who think I will be nice all the time, kind to people, they will be wrong. We need to find a bit more calm inside the club today. Sometimes we need the fervour, we need a bit of madness in a game. But we have to use it when we need it.
Young players
Bruno Génésio: oday a lot of Ligue 1 clubs want to put a spotlight on young players, we know why and the reasons, I have always trusted young players that are developed at the club. It’s the young players that you want to give time to, because you know they are showing the level during training, you need to be sure they have the level to play for the first team. I’m observing and analyzing.
The Economic reality of the club
Grégory Lorenzi: You all know the economic situation of the club which is worrying. The best balance is between the economics and the team. It would be lying to say we wouldn’t listen to offers for our major players that will allow us to be back into the financial balance. We have our salaries capped, and so its down to me to find this balance. This is why I am also here today, to find this delicate balance to have a team which is competitive to see every weekend to win matches.
Marseille has always been an ambitious clb and it has to stay that way. When we are in Marseille, that is always what we have to think. We have to confront the financial issues every day, there is the Mercato, not a lot of movement, but we are working with the team for these objectives. There will be a team in August that starts the league which could be different by September.
The Mercato
Grégory Lorenzi: We need to re-create a group, certain players will leave, but we need to find the best synergies possible between experience who can play in Europe, young players who could create value for the club. We need to start getting this mix to have a competitive and homogeneous team. You can bring in players of a certain quality , but if you don’t have a synergy between the players it’s not going to work. We need to work and anticipate things for the future and that takes time.
The sale of Greenwood
Grégory Lorenzi: You all know the complexities of the Greenwood dossier and the image of the player. There weren’t a lot of opportunities with Mason, there were discussions before, I want to precise that the player wanted to leave the club as quickly as possible. Between having the desire to sell the player, and the economic reality, we are not aligned on that. The club got it wanted, but I can understand they are frustrated. We were not going to keep a player that didn’t want to stay at Olympique de Marseille.
The numbers are communicated by people who don’t have the right information, all I can say is that the club got what it wanted. We thought that we were going to knock on the door, so the best option was this club that the player wanted to absolutely go to. Mason is no longer a player of OM.
first impressions
Bruno Génésio: I have found a lot of people, affected by the last season but also people that love the club, that want to give for the club, whether it is the staff or the people that work here. There is competence around us. Of course it was a challenging season. But there are some players that weren’t here, the atmosphere is healthy, they are now focused on the next season. Some will leave, some will stay. It’s always an uncertain period but things are going very well since we came, anyway on the pitch. We have already talked to recruitment and Greg about what we need. We need to be very reactive, that is the Mercato and that is something that will always move.
When I signed I knew everything going on and the financial efforts we would have to sell players. Everyone was honest, clear, and sincere with me. If I came here it was for this new orientation of the club. Obviously we could lose players I want to keep, but I knew that. It;s up to us to construct a balanced squad, and then we need to create a synergy, a mentality which should transpire in a team. There is a mental part to the performance, football is not always the strongest that wins.
“We play like we train” we cannot have intensity on the weekend, if we don’t do it during the week. There we are training as if the squad stays the same until the end of the Mercato. We ‘ll adapt along the way with the players who arrive and leave. We all will have a method that will be different, we’ll have to communicate with the players, and take things in our steps.
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