Almost a year after leaving his post as sports director at OL, Juninho had never mentioned Jean-Michel Aulas. At the same time, the president of Olympique Lyonnais had nevertheless split regular scuds towards the former key player in the conquest of seven consecutive titles in Ligue 1. The latest, at the time of the conference of Laurent Blanc’s presentation press, aiming to make believe that Juninho had decided alone to fail the former PSG coach in 2019 to favor Rudi Garcia, visibly pushed the Brazilian to fight back.
Now a consultant for RMC Sport, the latter has indeed agreed to return to after Sylvinho on the OL bench, in October 2019, when he had been sporting director for four months. Juninho evokes Tuesday on RMC an interview with Laurent Blanc in Paris, at the time, alongside JMA, but also Vincent Ponsot (then Deputy CEO in charge of human resources) and Gérard Houllier (then adviser to Aulas). “It’s true that the current has not passed too much with Laurent Blanc, concedes Juninho. But Jean-Michel Aulas knows of course that it’s not me alone who decided. It doesn’t bother me anymore, we know him…”
“It caresses some players”
Relaunched on the subject by RMC Sport, the former DS Lyonnais, from May 2019 to December 2021, continues about his ex-president: “I completely turned the page, I was disappointed with a lot of things. Forgiving is something very complicated for me when you go too far. And there, Jean-Michel Aulas went really far, it does not happen. “In passing, the Brazilian pointed to structural specificities within the club, which may explain his downgrading to Ligue 1: “You have to understand that Jean-Michel Aulas is used to never telling the sporting director what check he will have to be able to take players. So you work without knowing how much you will have available. He’s always done it that way, so you have to adapt. “Before tackling the general climate, where according to him the requirement is really not there, and this at all levels.
If you don’t like the job, you’re not going to win. The level of training in Lyon was low. A trainer and a sporting director arrived and tried to put the requirement, but we did not succeed. Because it caresses some players, who are publicly protected. For many of them, you look at their value, the check, so you can’t touch those players. That’s why it’s going to take time. Some players have to be removed. Why can’t a quality workforce perform well? »
Rudi Garcia again dismantled by Juninho
Juninho, who is still visibly heavy on his heart when it comes to talking about OL, was not going to omit tackling Rudi Garcia, as he had done, in May 2021, to respond to attacks in the press of the interested party against him, only a few days after the end of his contract in Lyon.
“Rudi did not control his emotions at all, he launched on RMC Sport. Rudi’s training was the same every day. He spoke with Maxence Caqueret to tell him that I wanted Jean Lucas to play in his place. Look at the mentality of this coach… Rudi is the nastiest person I have known in my entire football career. “How much is the odds of a new response from Rudi Garcia during his comments on a Brazil match, at the World Cup for TF1?