For the president of Olympique Lyonnais John Textor, Fabio Grosso was not the man for the job.
Olympique Lyonnais had a difficult start to the 2023-2024 season, marked in particular by a change of coach along the way. Last September, following the home defeat against Paris Saint-Germain (1-4), the management of the Rhone club made the decision to dismiss Laurent Blanc. It was then Fabio Grosso who was chosen to succeed the Cévenol. However, the transalpine technician failed to turn things around and was dismissed at the end of November after only seven matches. During an interview with L’Équipe, the president of OL gave the reasons for this decision.
“Fabio is a good man who has faced great challenges with a locker room that has difficulty looking in the mirror,” first explained the American businessman. His methods for challenging group leadership and transforming our team’s mentality would likely have been better suited to the offseason. I said several times that I should have prepared for the future of this club during the off-season, but I failed to do so. Whether it was Gennaro (Gattuso), Fabio or Oliver (Glasner), there was simply no great opportunity for qualified coaches to arrive at this difficult moment, in the heart of a season, in order to carry out transformations. So I had to make a decision and choose a manager who could make changes with a gentler hand…”
Textor is under the spell of Sage
The Gones boss was full of praise for Pierre Sage, Grosso’s successor confirmed on the OL bench after being called up to take over as interim manager. “Pierre has a great spirit for football and he is a good communicator. He is also respected by our players, confided Textor. This is enough for us to achieve our ambition of climbing the rankings. As for the future, if Pierre continues to teach but also learn, then I see no limit to what he can achieve as a coach. »
