The almost burlesque time of chaotic changes at half-time and 20 different players starting in just seven Ligue 1 matches is over at Olympique Lyonnais. Because yes, after two and a half months at the head of a laboratory without head or tail, Fabio Grosso has just been dismissed from OL this Thursday, as revealed The Team. His results (5 points taken out of 21) were as disastrous as those of Laurent Blanc since this summer (one draw and three defeats), which was no easy feat. With its two coaches, there is little doubt that OL (18th, five points behind the first non-relegation place) were heading towards Ligue 2, for the first time since the 1988-1989 season. While the director of the training center Pierre Sage will act as interim manager, 20 minutes wants to give John Textor a hand with his next choice. Proposals guaranteed 100% “Highway to L2”, obviously.
The most eco-responsible choice
It’s finally time to see Juninho on the OL bench, and not in an obscure role of special advisor. Well, on the bench, not quite. In order to respond to the club’s economic difficulties and to promote the personal development of its coach (which makes sense given the joie de vivre of his predecessors once in Lyon), as well as his indirect carbon footprint, John Textor will break the codes . He allows “Juni” to peacefully continue his life in Rio de Janeiro. Yes yes, while leading OL training sessions, pre-match talks and deciding on changes mid-match via Zoom, something even Ted Lasso had not thought of.
Our prediction: Despite an interesting synergy with Botafogo, thanks to an unprecedented turnover of Brazilian freelancers coming to repair the (few) flaws in the squad, the audacious Textor-Juninho project is not going to save the Lyon ship. After taking the lead out of the relegation zone following a success (1-4) at Clermont on the 33rd day, OL suffered five penalty points from the LFP for having called on 17 different extra-community players just in the return phase of the championship. Road to the lower level.
The most “faithful Lyon” choice
The American owner of OL takes everyone on the wrong foot by deciding to refocus the club on a completely innovative concept of OL DNA. To break Eagle Football’s image of multi-ownership of clubs, John Textor sets out to bring back the glorious old ones. After an in-depth study of social networks (without the necessary anti-troll filter), he opted for a Bruno Genesio-Raymond Domenech ticket. The idea is to allow the first to expand the squad with the recruitment of promising Maxime Gonalons, Samuel Umtiti, Jordan Ferri and Rachid Ghezzal to support the Lopes-Tolisso-Lacazette trio, while ensuring that the second manages the “entertainment” dimension which is dear to him in press conferences.
Our prediction: Thanks to a rediscovered Lacazette (17 goals in the return phase and no minutes on the bench), OL made a small comeback to 16th place. The football gods being teasing, Lyon collapsed in the play-off against the third in Ligue 2, namely… ASSE (0-1). The combined expulsions of Domenech, Tolisso and Ferri in this historic derby did not help, it is true.
The most “Olympic” choice
It didn’t take John Textor long to understand the power of the rivalry between OM and OL. His calculation is crazy simple: with resources comparable to those of Lyon, Olympique de Marseille has (until then) finished on the podium in each complete season of the Pablo Longoria era. After having poached the head of Marseille recruitment Matthieu Louis-Jean, then having reconstituted his entire team (Benjamin Charier, Thomas Maurin, Mathieu Seckinger…), but also the sports director of OM David Friio (ex-ASSE while to do), we might as well push the logic to the end by pushing for Jorge Sampaoli and Igor Tudor, currently without a club. Against all expectations, Jorge Sampaoli accepts the job despite OM’s wish to bring him back.
Our prediction: Light years away from Ligue 1 news since his hasty departure from Marseille in July 2022, Jorge Sampaoli announces that the Champions League is not that far away for OL during his presentation conference. He also explains that he will especially have to cope well during the international breaks without Tolisso and Lacazette, “indispensable” to Didier Deschamps. When he discovered the rankings for the first time, on the evening of a flamboyant success against Toulouse (3-0 on December 10), he slammed the door. Taken by surprise, John Textor dreams less big about his choices as an ex-Marseillais. Michel arrives, and OL’s relegation is made official on the 30th day, after a historic 8-0 at the Parc des Princes.
The most “Eagle Football” choice
John Textor decides to reward his employee of the year Claudio Caçapa. After all, he made a point of being, just this summer, Laurent Blanc’s assistant during part of Lyon’s disastrous preseason (four defeats in a row without a goal scored), but also interim coach at Botafogo , and head coach at Molenbeek. It is therefore difficult to do more coherently than to promote the former French champion with OL (from 2002 to 2007) on the Lyon bench as number one. The logic of reward within the Eagle Football galaxy would then be the worthy heir of the bridges constantly observed among the two Red Bull clubs in Europe. And then incidentally, it can help revive Molenbeek, currently 11th in the Jupiler Pro League after its derby lost against Anderlecht (1-2).
Our prediction: Sometimes lost between the three professional squads available that he was able to train in the space of six months, Claudio Caçapa struggles to convince. Without the slightest success obtained in Ligue 1 until Christmas, the former defender managed to convince John Textor to let him return to Molenbeek, where “the project and the dynamic are much better” according to him. The owner of OL fell back in January on the Brazilian Tiago Nunes, who has the merit of looking for a base after his less than conclusive experience at Botafogo. But (strangely) the transplant did not take, and Lyon sank into Ligue 2 in total anonymity, on April 14 after a draw (0-0) against Brest.
The flashiest choice
John Textor summons the Lyon press on December 8 and announces that he has “seen the light” to prevent OL from sinking in Ligue 2, with a very, very heavy choice on the bench. Namely the 2012 English champion with Manchester City and winner of the last Euro with Italy. Yes, yes Roberto Mancini himself. When a journalist asked him how he managed to convince him to leave his fantastic contract with the Saudi selection, the American businessman replied that he was poorly informed and that his friend Roberto was free from any contract. Problem: John Textor therefore came across the file of this improbable Roberto Mancini (ex-eminent coach of FC Cerdagne Capcir in Departmental 2 of the Pyrénées-Orientales, true story) while strolling on the Unecatef site, where this namesake can be found between the profiles of Frédéric Antonetti, Mehmed Bazdarevic, Mickaël Landreau and William Prunier.
Our prediction: Confronted with his incredible ball, John Textor immediately dismisses the Pyrenean Roberto Mancini. Still wanting a coach with Champions League stature, he tried his luck to poach during the winter break a certain Peter Bosz, leader of the Dutch championship and qualified without trembling in the round of 16 with PSV Eindhoven. Annoyed at constantly being hung up on by the latter, he falls back on Pascal Dupraz, whom he nicknames “Croziflette Al Pacino” after falling under the spell of his famous chat before TFC-Angers. Guess what, OL are not doing well here either, after two final losses at Clermont (1-0) and against Strasbourg (1-3), two direct competitors. Maybe not so much “a joke” as that, this relegation thing after all.