“The forward flight of John Textor led Olympique Lyonnais to the bottom of a dead end”

DAtter the collapse of Olympique Lyonnais (OL) to the final moments of its quarter -final in the Europa League against Manchester United – those of an unattractive and cruel – elimination would be mistaken for chronology. This April 17, of April 17, marked the start of a series of four defeats in five games, including those of the derby against Saint-Etienne (April 20) and that against Monaco, Saturday May 10. Unless there is a very improbable turnaround on the last day of Ligue 1, Saturday May 17, OL will not compete in the Champions League next season.

This qualification for European competition was however essential to hope to save a situation compromised for much longer, which this sixth season is recalled outside the podium in Ligue 1 since 2018-2019. Compromise, therefore, well before the sale of the club to the billionaire Etatesunian John Textor, in 2022, in case we want to see in it the real turning point.

The valuation of the company at 800 million euros certainly seemed to crown the thirty-seven years of the reign of its president-owner Jean-Michel Aulas. OL was nonetheless already weakened by its increasingly poor debt and sports governance. John Textor has less dilapidated the heritage than substituted a hazardous model for an obsolete model.

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