Drama on the French riviera 🏖️

Good Afternoon, football fans!Anyone can get it in the Premier League right now 🥊 We look at the main talking points from last night, Emma Hayes being linked with the AFC Wimbledon job, and our Ligue 1 update full of French drama

FIRST WOMAN MANAGER OF MEN'S EFL TEAM? Rumours started on Tuesday that Emma Hayes could be the main target for AFC Wimbledon to take on the role of first-team manager for the club.

Emma has rejected the notion that managing in the EFL would be a step up from her current role as manager of Chelsea Women’s first team.If Emma were to take the role, she’d become the first woman to manage in the EFL.She has since categorically rejected the role, saying: "No amount of money is going to tempt me away' from Chelsea" ...lolHiring the renowned coach and Sky pundit would be a step in the right direction for the EFL.Corinne Diacre became the first woman to manage a men’s professional football team when she took on the role at Claremont Foot in Ligue 2 in France where she managed for 3 years before taking the step-up and managing the French Women’s National team.

LAST NIGHT'S FOOTBALL ⚽

Having got rid of their star players, in Gabriel and Pepe, over the last two seasons hasn’t put a dent in Lille’s aspirations. It has, we assume, left them with a healthy bank balance 💸With 5 wins in a row, they find themselves at the top of Ligue 1 👍Pochettino suffered his first defeat with PSG against Lorientlast week but only 6 points separate the top 4 so there’s plenty to play for 👎However, our main concern this week is Marseille. There was a point a few weeks ago when Marseille were title contenders.They now sit 9th, 200 of their own fans attacked their training facilities, and internal chaos meant their manager, Andre Villas-Boas (AVB), handed in his resignation on Transfer Deadline Day... before being sacked. Who’s fighting who?Well, it’s very much AVB and the fans vs The Board. Jacques-Henri Eyraud, president of the club, had already sacked Sporting Director, Andoni Zubizarreta, an associate of AVB’s and the one to bring him to the club.That, in itself, nearly left AVB handing in his resignation. However, a successful year last year, finishing second, qualifying for the Champions League, and having a talented team on his side, meant AVB gave it another year.What’s happened then?

There’s a long-standing disconnect between The Board and the fans who back AVB. The fans were already pissed at The Board. They attacked the facilities with surprisingly civil, banners reading “(Club) directors” out, and unsurprisingly uncivil flares 🔥Their game against Rennes was called off as a result. The Marseille fans are not particularly hospitable to outsiders and they’ve described Eyraud as a Parisian pretender.Basically, they think he’s a suit.However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was last week’s transfer dealings:- the sale of Morgan Sanson,- and the signing of striker Olivier Ntcham from Celtic.Ntcham, through no fault of his own, just doesn’t have the profile AVB was looking for.

Oh yeah, and this is just a normal day in French football as the exact SAME thing happened 300km away at St Etienne earlier on the same day...

On the plus side, they’ve just released these kits...

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