Mathieu Grégoire’s first 2016 interview with Frank McCourt, OM’s future owner | OneFootball

On 29 August 2016, after seven months of pursuit, Frank McCourt emerged in OM’s orbit and granted a first interview ahead of his takeover. He arrived at the Pullman Palm Beach with a team of PRs and Jacques-Henri Eyraud, the club’s future president.

Protocol dragged and, running late, McCourt ushered the reporters into the saloon taking him to the Hôtel de Ville. His wife, Monica, took another car.

McCourt was warm and talkative, with Eyraud ready to translate if the Boston accent proved tricky. A quick selfie for social media was suggested, which surprised and pleased him. En route to a meeting with Jean-Claude Gaudin, who would urge him to put money in, McCourt began a charm offensive, aware of his dented reputation in the United States after poor results with the Dodgers.

He later said he felt like a politician on the campaign trail and made clear he did not favour Donald Trump. That autumn he was confident, available and curious. For several months, with Monica and their daughter Luciana, aged one, he took the royal suite at the Plaza Athénée on avenue Montaigne in Paris.

In December 2016 he received Le Mag barefoot on the carpet, handing over the match ball from his first OM victory, against Caen. He wanted the cover to be a family portrait and remarked that life felt like a telenovela. Monica, Colombian by origin, hoped he might sign James Rodriguez, then at Real, and for a while such dreams felt plausible.

Source: L'Équipe

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