EXCLUSIVE | Chris Waddle: “Marseille don’t have small problems, they always have major problems!”

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Olympique de Marseille legend and England international Chris Waddle sat down with Get French Football News to discuss the crisis at his former club ahead of the start of the season and the new era of French football under Zinedine Zidane.

Marseille have been forced to put every player up for sale. Have you ever seen anything like this before?

It’s Marseille; they’re either at the top of the tree or the bottom. They don’t have small problems; they always have major problems! They want to compete with Paris Saint-Germain; the fans demand that. In the late 80s and 90s, they had a great side, which was the best team in France, and they want more of it. I can understand the frustrations; they’re a massive football club. They’ve got great support.

But at the end of the day, people who own football clubs can only give a certain amount. Paris, we know, are absolutely minted. When I was playing for Marseille, we were the club with lots and lots of money and Paris didn’t have the money. And times change; people want to see Marseille back to where they were in the late 80s, early 90s. One day it will happen, but unfortunately at the minute, they haven’t got the resources to compete alongside Paris.

They’re on par with Lens, they’re on par with Lyon, they’re on par with Nice, Monaco. All of these clubs are in the same boat and want to kick on, but haven’t got the budget. Paris are a team well above [them] because of the financial situation they’ve got, and it frustrates Marseille, because a team they don’t want to see doing well is Paris Saint-Germain; and they are doing well and have been for many years now.

It frustrates Marseille, but you don’t know what’s round the corner; somebody might be thinking about buying Marseille, like someone thought about buying Paris or Manchester City. Someone might come along and think, ‘You know what, massive support, great stadium, could make this club massive’, and that’s what will happen eventually. They will come again. That’s what I’ve always said about big clubs. They’re too big not to come again. Marseille will come again one day.

It was the worst-kept secret in football, but Zidane is now the new France manager. What are your thoughts? Expectations?

Well, he’s got a good squad. France will be disappointed not to have got to the World Cup final or won it. When you’ve got the players they’ve got, especially going forward, they’ve got four or five players that can make things happen – not many teams have that. They’ll be disappointed that they didn’t defend better. They were caught on the counterattack a few times. They’ll be disappointed that they didn’t lift that trophy. A semi-final for most countries is a great achievement, but France, with that squad, will think, ‘We should have won that’.

Zinedine Zidane’s got a great squad there. It’s not an easy job. He’s got to pick the right players, the right blend. He’s got a lot to choose from. He’s got to think, ‘Why did we fall short in America? Why didn’t we win it?’ And he’s got to look at that, and if he’s got to make a slight adjustment, then that might be the difference between winning the next Euros and the next World Cup. It’s not an easy job; it looks easy because he’s got so many great players to pick from, but he’s got to get the balance of the side right. We saw Didier Deschamps was all out attack, he must have thought, ‘I’ve got to play all these players, they’re all in form,’ but it just left them a little bare at the back.

Is that where you think France fell short at the World Cup? It was defensively rather than offensively.

They took the game to a lot of teams; they didn’t sit back. They got caught out on the break. They lost the ball in areas where teams could capitalise on it and punish them. That was the fine line that stopped them from winning the World Cup; fine margins. Zidane’s got to look at that, look at the stats, and adjust it slightly. And if he does, there’s no reason why they can’t go on to be very very successful.

_Chris Waddle was speaking exclusively to GFFN on behalf ofBetBrain. _

GFFN | Nick Hartland