The rise and fall of Bernard Tapie's magnificent Marseille
Story updated
The story in brief
7-second readThe flamboyant Frenchman built one of the most exciting teams in European football history but the entire club collapsed in the most shocking of circumstances
From the source
It became clear very early on during Tapie's tenure at the Velodrome that he was willing to do whatever it took to propel Marseille to the summit of European football.
In 1987, Monaco were close to completing the signing of OM transfer target Abedi Pele when Tapie convinced the Ghanaian to refuse to take a blood test as part of his medical.
Then, with the help of an insider at the Stade Louis II, Tapie spread a rumour that Pele was HIV positive, which was a complete lie but nonetheless resulted in Monaco pulling out of the deal, thus allowing Tapie to swoop in and sign the attacking midfielder for Marseille.
At a glance
- Reporting status
- Reported
- Original publisher
- GOAL ↗
- Source published
- Clubs covered
- Marseille
Attributed publisher reporting. Kickjolly has not independently confirmed the claim.
Source context
This brief is drawn from GOAL. The original report is linked below for its complete context.
Read original report ↗The stands
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