So, Ligue 1 kicks off again in a month’s time on Saturday 9th August, with one of those chaotic season-opening multiplexes where the TV coverage is a frantic mix of that bingity bing-bing, bing-bing bing noise that tells you the coverage is moving, just as a man desperately yells “But à Gerland!” (just an example) over his equally excited colleagues. Great fun unless you’re live-tweeting.

There are no grands chocs on the timetable for game 1, but some interesting matches nonetheless; champions PSG will be away at Reims, who have some history of causing them problems, Lille will welcome Ligue 2 champions Metz, Nantes are at home to TBC depending on how Lens’ appeal to the DNCG pans out, and Marseille have a tricky away trip to Fortress Bastia. Things get slightly more interesting in game 2, however, as Marseille will be at home to Montpellier. But where?

For the past three years, the Velodrome has been under development, and is now a stunning wave-form stadium befitting its tenant’s history. However, the important word there is ‘tenant’: the stadium belongs to the local council, and the club pays rent. Prior to work starting, the annual rent was €1.5m, but this was decreased to €50,000 p.a. during the works as large parts of the stadium were unusable and covered in scaffolding.

The rent has now been set at €8m a year, an amount with which the club are not one bit impressed, DG Philippe Perez describing the valuation as “surréaliste“. So, negotiations have begun. In an attempt to buy some time, OM have approached the Montpellier agglomération (regional administration) that owns Stade de la Mosson, where Montpellier play. Regional president Philippe Saurel has confirmed that, in concert with MHSC President Louis Nicollin, they have agreed to relocating the second match of the season. However, this will not be an ‘inversion’ of the fixture (i.e. switching the home and away ties) but rather OM being deemed to be ‘at home’ for the fixture, with the return match in January also being played at Mosson (one gets the impression that this guarantee may have been a requirement for Nicollin to OK the arrangement, or at least, not kick up a massive fuss).

Now, this poses some interesting practical questions, such as whether the presumably limited OM support will have access to the Mosson home ends, Etang de Thau and half of Corbieres, usually home to the ultra groups; and also whether the Montpellier supporters will end up constituting the largest ever travelling fanbase in Ligue 1, while sitting in their home stadium. But the really puzzling thing is how this situation arose in the first place.

Much has been said about the level of the new rent, and the club’s apparent surprise at this. In searching for details of what the previous rental amount was, I found some details on MediaFoot Marseille in an article from April 2013, which also refers to the city wishing to generate €6-7m per annum after the work is finished. This seems slightly at odds with Perez’s statement which, as well as citing the much lower rents paid by PSG, OL, Nice and Saint-Etienne, says “we will never put ourselves in the same situation as Lille, who have to pay €4.2m“. Now, there is another contract to factor into this, which is between the club and the stadium operator Arema, which apparently includes a limit on the home games that OM can play at the Velodrome, 25 matches, above which they will have to pay a surcharge to Arema. This could imply that Arema will be making the stadium available to other users, or that there will be naming rights or other sponsorship sought, to generate additional revenue to meet part of the city’s expectations. But it is not clear what ballpark figure OM were expecting to pay for their, erm, ballpark. Or indeed, why they are quite so surprised.

So, while club and council fight this out, OM are looking to stadiumsurf their way through the opening games if they can’t reach an agreement before the start of the season. Mosson is a possibility, as is Nîmes’ Stade des Costières, but while making the club itinerant could avoid the ‘death warrant’ Perez claims the new rent would be, it could still be very problematic; after significant fan disgruntlement over the past two seasons, first with Elie Baup as Marseille crashed ignominiously out of the Champions League, and then Jose Anigo, as they failed to qualify for Europe at all, the appointment of Marcelo Bielsa seemed to have things looking up, with large groups of supporters coming out to celebrate his arrival. However, it may be hard to get over last season’s experience of striking fans, insulting banners, and the sounds of goats bleating, when they cannot count on having their large support in place in their own tribunes. Also, even if the rent demanded by the city is reduced, it seems unlikely to be halved, something that Perez’s statement seems to say would still ‘put our club in danger’. Presumably, therefore, OM will have to factor this in to their dealings during the transfer window, which was already shaping up to be rather complicated.

For now, their pre-season friendly schedule features no home fixtures, but the opportunity to have a look at the fixtures and fittings at some candidates for a temporary home, although they are all significantly smaller than the 67,000-seater Velodrome, or even its 48,000 capacity during the renovation works (Nimes c 18,500, Avignon c. 17,500, Albertville c.5,000). Perhaps the public threat to take OM on the road is just Perez playing hardball in negotiations, but it’s a big risk. Who will blink first?