Markus Babbel is under pressure at the Wanderers. Credit:Getty Speaking to the Herald under the condition of anonymity, the player left the club at the end of the season to join a rival but not, he said, before contemplating walking away from the game due to his treatment by de Marigny. "I was on the brink of giving the game away, that’s how bad he was," the player said. The club endured their least successful campaign last season, finishing eighth in the A-League and failing to win any other competitions. Babbel and de Marigny emerged unscathed despite the poor return but little has changed this season in terms of results, performances or operations within the club, according to club sources. The Wanderers declined to comment when contacted by the Herald on Tuesday. Questions have been raised by several sources over the influence of de Marigny within the squad, which the player said was also a concern last season.

"JP really was coaching the team and I have no doubt that he’s doing the same this year. The players being picked, the tactics, formation, a lot has come from JP more than Babbel," he said. Much like this season, de Marigny ran training sessions, analysis and team meetings while Babbel took an observational approach throughout preparations. "Babbel was just the face doing interviews and TV work," the player said. "JP was taking most of it but the boys didn’t really respect JP. Babbel would come in and give his two cents but they lost respect for him too." Loading Much of that had to do with Babbel's relaxed handling of the team during the week, followed by overly harsh condemnation of the players publicly after games.

"Last year, a lot of the boys were fed up with a lot of the stuff JP and Babbel were saying. Babbel was saying how poor the players were, [announcing] the players' mistakes, when, tactically, none of us knew what we were doing," he said. The player suggested relationships between a number of squad members and de Marigny fractured significantly last season, while others felt disenchanted with Babbel due to his alleged inaction. "It’s not that they didn’t like Babbel, they just couldn’t stand the fact that Babbel didn’t do anything about it," he said. The experience of last season left him demoralised and close to disenchanted with professional football. "They just kill your confidence," he said. "Last year killed my game a lot, I am still recovering ... You question whether you are good enough to be here. They don’t speak to you, they don’t tell you what to improve on, nothing. That’s just how it was."