Wanderers boss Markus Babbel fury at ‘snakes’ who claim his own assistant has undermined him
Markus Babbel’s latest press conference was full of expletives as the Wanderers boss couldn’t hide his frustration at ‘dogsh*t’ reports his assistant Jean-Paul de Marigny was undermining him.
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Angry Wanderers boss Markus Babbel has lashed out at the “snakes” behind reports that his assistant Jean-Paul de Marigny had sought to “white ant” Babbel and caused disharmony at the club.
After addressing his squad over the anonymous claims, which followed five straight losses having the club languishing outside the top six, Babbel hit out at what he dubbed “bullshit stories” and mounted a passionate defence of de Marigny’s conduct.
Reports had claimed that de Marigny was openly covetous of the head coach’s role, and had acted aggressively towards the squad’s younger players.
That prompted Babbel to face the media alongside club CEO John Tsatsimas, and the coach was unable to stop himself swearing as his evident anger spilled over again.
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Reacting to claims that a player at the Wanderers last season nearly quit football over the coaching styles of Babbel and de Marigny, the German demanded to know who it was – and the identity of players alleging that de Marigny had white-anted him.
“I can’t comment on this f***ing — sorry about this word — this dogshit,” he said. “This is just not the truth. I wish that you as a journalist if you are talking to me that you would believe me more, than ‘I heard something’.
“This is for me not good journalism. Now you need a story and this is a perfect story. This is not a good journalism in my eyes.
“Tell me first who is saying it, say who it is, then it’s a different story.”
Babbel insisted his decision to become more involved in training sessions had been his alone, rather in response to complaints from players that the sessions were stale and repetitive.
He also took offence at suggestions he had dumped youth players from the team because they couldn’t cope with de Marigny’s coaching style.
“Be careful what you hear, don’t trust people,” he said. “I like (to do) it, very simple, if you follow my stations I always have a strong assistant because I like to have strong guys around.
“Don’t ask me this stupid question please, If you say something, have a look first then ask the right questions.
“We only can stop all this bullshit with results on the pitch. (Critics) are not coming out when we won three games in a row, they didn’t say a word, now they are coming out.
“We have no time anymore, it’s a great opportunity on Friday (against Western United).”
On Tuesday, Babbel slammed the ‘personal’ attacks and the toxic culture in football.
“Most of the time, whether it's here or Australia, if you can't get results then the snakes come out,” said Babbel.
“It's a normal situation to be criticised, and I have no problem with that. But I'm surprised it's on him (De Marigny) and not on me. I am the head coach, and if we're losing games then I'm the boss of these guys.
“If we're losing games it's normal we get criticised, and I'll live with that. But now this is a point I can't accept, it's below the belt. Now it's personal.
“I got really angry with this. I'm fine with criticism because we are not performing. It's part of the job. But a story like this has 100 per cent a lie inside, it’s just lying.
“We know how we work together, how we are privately together. I spend with him nearly as much time as I do with my wife.
“I know JP now for one-and-a-half years, and if he has a problem he comes straight to me. He's straightforward, that's why I love him.”
Babbel said that if de Marigny had behaved caustically with the club’s academy graduates, it came with his blessing.
“If I hear now that he is talking too harsh with the young players, I have a laugh because this is exactly what we want,” Babbel said. “I am not only a coach to make them technically better.
“We also want to make them mentally better because they all have dreams of going to Europe. But if you can't handle it here, how are you going to handle this in Europe? You'll have no chance.”
De Marigny himself claimed the reports had “challenged my integrity, my character, my values, the whole lot”.
“I like to think I'm consistent in the way I deliver things,” he said. “That's to try to get players to maximise their potential. Sometimes you have to be stronger, sometimes you have to cuddle them, you have to manage them.
“Is it everyone's style? Maybe not. But it's who I am, who I've been.”
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Facing a pivotal game with Western United on Friday night, Babbel issued a challenge to disgruntled players to be upfront with him.
“This is the biggest disappointment,” he said. “Come to me, tell me your problem. For me it's madness that I have to sit here and defend how we work.
“We don't have the points we expected, but we have a situation that I really hate where I have to defend honest people.
“Now it got personal on a guy who is very close to me, and this is not acceptable. I got mad, and I wish I could speak to these guys telling these bullshit stories because they're just not true.”