Since the announcement of Frank McCourt’s presence on Sunday at the Vélodrome for the Classic, many fans have been worried about a supposed curse that OM are struggling when their owner makes the trip. If certain results explain this received idea, the overall figures say rather the opposite.
In this period when everything is successful at Olympique de Marseille, his popularity rating is doing quite well. However, the announcement of his presence on Sunday at the Vélodrome to attend the Classic against PSG (25th day of Ligue 1, 8:45 p.m.) provoked a flood of negative reactions from the Canebière side.
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“Black cat”, “congratulations to Paris for its victory”, “it’s screwed up guys”… Frank McCourt’s trip makes the most superstitious supporters fear the worst who cling to a tenacious received idea: when the American owner is there, things rarely go very well for OM.
Little success against PSG
The recent results of OM against PSG under the eyes of its owner give credence to this black cat thesis. If Marseille had snatched a draw in his presence at the Parc des Princes for his first Classic as owner of the Olympian club, McCourt attended the slaps inflicted by the Parisians in March 2017 (5-1 at the Vélodrome) and in October 2019 (4-0 at the Parc des Princes). This season, during the first leg played in Paris, he also saw with his own eyes Igor Tudor’s men lose 1-0 (16 October, 11th day). In almost seven years at the head of the club, he has never seen the Phocaeans win against the Parisian rival when he was in the stands.
In the near past, OM have also suffered significant defeats against rivals in Ligue 1 when McCourt made the trip (2-0 defeat at Lille in March 2021 and 1-0 at the Vélodrome against Monaco in March 2022). But the American businessman was also present in the bays of the Vélodrome last April during the victory against Reims (1-0) and especially to attend the crazy last day of the 2021-2022 season, when Jorge Sampaoli and his team inflicted a scathing 4-0 in Strasbourg to validate in extremis the direct qualification in the Champions League.
Nearly 50% wins when present in the stands
Apart from these symbolic meetings, OM’s overall statistics when McCourt is in the stands are quite good. As listed by the site statsomp.fr, the American owner has attended 45 OM matches (at home and away) since 2016, peaking at 12 in the stands in 2016-2017. Of these 45 games, he has a winning percentage of 48.89% (33.3% losing).
In comparison to the overall winning percentages (50.65% in 310 matches in all competitions), these figures are rather in line with what OM have been doing since 2016 and the takeover of the club. Difficult, therefore, to speak of a real curse. But a single victory on Sunday evening in an incandescent Vélodrome would be enough to change the most skeptical mind.
