The takeover of Olympique Lyonnais by American businessman John Textor, 58, was concluded on December 19, 2022. Through his company Eagle Football, he has full powers within OL Groupe, as in Molenbeek (Belgium) and Botafogo (Brazil), two clubs where he is the main shareholder, while he holds 45% of the shares in Crystal Palace, in England. For The world, he looks back on his eventful beginnings at the head of OL and explains his multi-ownership strategy, often criticized by supporters of the clubs concerned. In Lyon, the ultras of the North bend sang: “Where are you, Textor?” » or displayed a banner: “Is multi-ownership a hit or is it killing football? » With the third highest budget in the French championship, OL occupy last place in the Ligue 1 standings before facing Monaco on Friday December 15.
December 19 will mark the first anniversary of your arrival at the head of Olympique Lyonnais. Are you planning to celebrate it?
In December, I normally celebrate Christmas! At OL, I tend to remember mid-May as the start of my presidency [moment où il avait définitivement écarté son prédécesseur, Jean-Michel Aulas]. Before that, even though I already owned the club, I didn’t really have any influence on the decisions.
Did you expect such a complicated start?
At the end of last season, the team was a mix of very young players and players at the end of their careers. It didn’t look like a normal team. But, looking back, my main mistake is not having changed my management this summer.
Have you considered replacing the coach, Laurent Blanc, in the offseason?
I was very disturbed by what I observed during our last championship match [de la saison 2022-2023], in Nice. I had the feeling that the management and the players did not attach any value to this meeting. Laurent Blanc is a wonderful man, he has always been very pleasant to me, but he sent me signals this summer that I should have interpreted better.
What were these warning signs?
The players showed a lack of ambition, work and physical preparation. In July I thought they would be excited to play Manchester United in Edinburgh, Scotland. From the start, I noticed their lack of interest. Then, against Crystal Palace, we observed the same lack of ambition. Then our defeat at Molenbeek, which had just left the Belgian second division, was the demonstration of all our problems. Normally, what a team shows during the preseason is very different from what they show when the championship begins. But, after five or six matches, I saw a team who simply did not want to play, players who were not in shape, who did not work in training or in matches. I watch 250 matches a year, I see players, I see data, I know how to recognize ambition.
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