It is an understatement to say that the cohabitation is complicated in Lyon between John Textor and Jean-Michel Aulas.
Dismissed from the presidency of OL last May, Jean-Michel Aulas was quick to exasperate the new owners of the club. Initially, when the sale was completed in December 2022, the historic boss of Les Gones – 36 years of reign – was to remain at the helm for three more seasons. A cohabitation that ultimately proved impossible, according to John Textor’s own admission.
In an interview with The Athletic, the American businessman confides: “ The first months of working with Jean-Michel were quite difficult. We paid him almost 100 million euros, but we found that we didn’t have much influence, despite owning 80% of the company. The man who ran the business (JMA, therefore) and who sold two-thirds of his shares to us had seller’s remorse… As the weeks passed his enthusiasm for the financial transaction waned and I think he realized that his life had changed and that he didn’t want to give up control. »
The DNCG would have spared Aulas
Over time, the two strong men of OL found themselves back to back, unable to communicate. ” Jean-Michel Aulas has publicly stated that if Eagle Football wanted to influence their football strategy, the answer was no. These are words we would have liked to hear before buying the company “, thunders John Textor, who finally chose to take the reins of the club prematurely in the face of the demands of the National Management Control Department: “ When the DNCG asked us to provide more capital, we decided to take full control of ownership and management. »
Since then, Lyon has not been spared, seeing its payroll and its transfers supervised by the said DNCG. ” I suspect them of wanting to manage us more strictly than OL in the past. And it’s not a question of financial fair play, deplores the boss of the Eagle Football holding company. They have the right to decide how much we can afford, even if we have proven we can afford it. (…) For the past 30 years, French clubs have been able to go to the authorities and say they are going to do X, Y and Z, and the DNCG accepted… They gave Jean-Michel Aulas a free pass every year. »
