Firebrand Gattuso charged with restoring order to Marseille
Life is rarely dull at Marseille but even by the standards of France's most passionately followed football club the weeks leading up to this Thursday's Europa League clash with Brighton and Hove Albion have been remarkable.
A team that had been unbeaten saw their coach, Spaniard Marcelino Garcia Toral, resign after just seven games in charge following an angry meeting between supporters groups and club directors.
Pablo Longoria, the 37-year-old president of the nine-time French champions, considered quitting after saying he had been threatened during the meeting in question.
He claimed in an interview with local daily La Provence that he and three fellow directors had been told to "resign or it's war".
Longoria also said he had asked his lawyers to file a police complaint, a move that was unlikely to get supporters back onside, especially among the powerful ultra groups that dominate the terraces of Marseille's imposing Stade Velodrome.
Prosecutors in the Mediterranean port city later confirmed that an investigation had been opened into possible extortion, blackmail and threats made against Longoria and the directors.
However, in the end Longoria opted to stay after receiving the backing of the club's owner, American tycoon Frank McCourt – although sports daily L'Equipe reported Longoria would have had to pay back several months' salary had he suddenly decided to quit.
With the team slumping to a 4-0 defeat away to bitter rivals Paris Saint-Germain on September 24, Longoria stepped up his search for a new coach and soon had his man in Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning midfielder Gennaro Gattuso.
The firebrand 45-year-old, a former coach at AC Milan, Napoli and Valencia, has the temperament needed to handle the
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