The verdict so much feared by supporters of Olympique Lyonnais fell. The club septuple champion of France in the 2000s is relegated to Ligue 2 by administrative decision. President John Textor and Mickaël Gerlinger, director of football at Eagle Football, were interviewed this Tuesday in Paris before the DNCG in the hope of seeing the threat that has been hovering since November 15. In vain. The body judged the guarantees insufficient and decided to act the relegation of the Rhone club at the lower level.
The shower is cold, icy even. In recent weeks, club management had wanted to be reassuring, multiplying promises or financial ads, as recently the sale of Rayan Cherki for around 40 million euros in Manchester City. To the point of crazy all the followers of the club, convinced by the serenity displayed, except for some financial experts in critical and alert mind.
At the end of the hearing, John Textor had nevertheless displayed his confidence: “We are very satisfied with the procedure, we have shown that we were one of the best capitalized clubs in France,” he said. But the DNCG decided. And his judgment is fraught with consequences.
On the sporting level, the club had completed its season by snatching a miraculous qualification in the Europa League (6th in Ligue 1). Clearly in a long year by a catastrophic start to the season, internal tensions and chronic instability on all floors of the club.
OL will probably appeal
Beyond the sporting and economic blow, the whole ecosystem of the club is weakened. Several executives have already left (Lacazette, Cherki, Tagliafico) and other departures are expected (Fofana, Tolisso, Matic). The project led by Eagle Football enters an area of very strong turbulence.
The club should now appeal within seven days of this decision, with the hope of producing new elements to have the judgment revised. But the urgency is absolute. OL, French football institution, is no longer protected neither by his record nor by its status. A giant with clay feet …
The supporters, long measured towards John Textor despite protest banners who appeared in the stands in the spring, let their anger burst. Some denounce a casualness of the American shareholder, more concerned according to them by the Club World Cup that Botafogo, PSG fall in the group match (1-0), only by the fate of OL.
“Since the time I say that Textor will bring us very, very low …”
The actor Jérémy Lopez, member of the Comédie Française and fervent supporter of the club, sums up: “Textor does not care. He’s going to go see Botafogo in the Club World Cup. What a shame. »»
Another supporter, Max, in his fifties, cannot come back: “It’s an earthquake, I want to cry. “Philippe sees it as a logical sequence in a dash of black humor:” Since the time that I say that Textor will make us fall very, very low … “
The cleaver fell. Even if it is not yet final, it obviously fears the worst. Reims, relegated after his defeat in a dam against Metz, could be the beneficiary. OL, him, this big house of French football, finds himself faced with a precipice that he had probably never imagined. Lyon has not played in Ligue 2 since… 1989.
