More than a page that turns, it is a history book of Olympique Lyonnais that is closing. After almost thirty-six years of a presidency worthy of the longest-lived of city councilors – his reign was longer than the first term of the illustrious mayor of Lyon Edouard Herriot between 1905 and 1940 – Jean-Michel Aulas hands over to head of the football club. A hand that the new American owners of Eagle, with John Textor at their head, have somewhat forced him, while caressing him, since they must pay him compensation of 10 million euros.
This departure, announced by the newspaper The Team overnight from Sunday to Monday, was confirmed Monday, May 8 in the morning by a press release from the Rhone club. It is rather unexpected because after the takeover of the club, valued at 800 million euros in December 2022, the deal was clear: the seller was to remain in place for a period of three years. But, in a few months, sporting setbacks have accumulated, including elimination in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France after an unworthy performance in Nantes. Tensions between the Textor clan and the Lyon president, hardly accustomed to sharing his power, have increased.
The slight recovery in the second half of the season does not hide the shortcomings of an outdated sports policy. And after their victory at the cost of a crazy scenario against Montpellier on Sunday (5-4, after being down 4-1), in the unusual – and retroactively understandable – absence of Jean-Michel Aulas, OL peak only at 7e place. The Lyonnais are three points from qualifying for the Europa League Conference (the third European level), which will be hard to obtain four days from the end of the French championship and which was not the initial objective anyway.
However, it is not this sporting downgrading of a club which has not won anything since a Coupe de France in 2012 which explains this explosion in French football. A strategic misunderstanding between Textor and Aulas led the two men to end their collaboration prematurely. The Americans have been expressing for weeks their desire to restructure the sports sector of the club, seven times champion of France in the 2000s. The head of recruitment, Bruno Cheyrou – unofficial sports director – was in the crosshairs. The new bosses notably wanted to completely overhaul the club’s recruitment cell, which was deemed archaic and obsolete.
“He’s like everyone else, he’s getting old”
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