At the Parc OL Auditorium,
“There are a lot of things we can do differently. It is with this formula that John Textor concluded his first press conference on Tuesday evening in the shoes of CEO of Olympique Lyonnais. Even if he showed up at the Auditorium du Parc OL with a club tracksuit jacket, he assured that his new duties were only “interim”. “It won’t last long,” said the 57-year-old American owner. This club needs a CEO based here, rooted in the region’s history and culture. It’s one of the best jobs possible. »
John Textor, who was extremely talkative for almost an hour, and even more of a fan of digressions than Jean-Michel Aulas, said he started the search for this key position on Monday. Before going to dinner with Laurent Blanc, the boss of Eagle Football immediately wanted to salute JMA on Tuesday, “a legend” after his 36 years of presidency of OL, until his ousting during a council meeting. administration on Friday. Then the owner of a “family of clubs”, between Botafogo (Brazilian D1), Molenbeek (Belgian D2) and Crystal Palace (Premier League, as co-owner) gave leads on three major sites in Lyon that you decipher 20 minutes.
- Will scouting be one of the strong points of this new OL?
John Textor did not take long to consider OL as “underdeveloped in terms of scouting”, with its thin team of four recruiters supervised by cell director Bruno Cheyrou. Seeing the Floridian come back three times during his conference on the scouting/data issue, we understand that this is THE priority for the summer on the Lyon side.
I want to invest significantly in scouting, player detection. We want to increase our number of traditional recruiters present on the field. We want to be extremely efficient with recruiting resources and data to analyze the performance of thousands of players. In a short time, we can thus reduce 10,000 names to 300 names to have a list of targets that is easier to exploit, and avoid wasting time and money on travel. We must absolutely be engaged in scouting. »
After “old-fashioned” management with Jean-Michel Aulas, OL are therefore preparing to consider following in the footsteps of the recent winner of the Coupe de France, Damien Comolli’s TFC. As for the fate of Bruno Cheyrou, clearly threatened by the end of the Aulas era (sorry, of the “transition” as Textor calls it), just like the director of football Vincent Ponsot, the American businessman remained hyper evasive, simply specifying: “We are not going to eliminate positions but add them”. Not sure that the two former right arms of JMA are reassured by such timid support from their boss.
- Could Laurent Blanc bear the brunt of the departure from Aulas?
Co-leader of Ligue 1… on the second leg (9 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses), will Olympique Lyonnais continue this dynamic next August with Laurent Blanc on the bench? Rumors had been escalating for the past few days about the delicate future of the former PSG coach. But for once, John Textor was concrete on this issue: “I support our coach and I want to see him at the head of our next team. I want to give him the strength, the tenacity and the experience/leadership that he asked for in a very specific way, and that we did not get during the last winter transfer window. I don’t think the coach has what he needs to challenge his players.”
Not only should Lolo White therefore remain in Ligue 1, but with a reinforced workforce, since his boss is aiming for “the best Lyon transfer window for years”. We imagine rather well that this one will be less lunar than that of last winter, in spite of the arrival 100% Textor of disconcerting Jeffinho (Botafogo). But by the way, is the US businessman accustomed to a waltz of coaches in his three other clubs? At Crystal Palace, he participated as soon as he arrived in the appointment of Patrick Vieira on the bench, in August 2021, in place of Roy Hodgson. Then again, but in the other direction two months ago, while Crystal Palace (12th) is on the way to ensuring its maintenance in the Premier League. On the side of Molenbeek, which is on the way to accessing the Belgian elite, John Textor has however always maintained his confidence in Vincent Euvrard, after having bought the club in January 2022.
Last configuration in Botafogo, where the owner of OL did not hesitate there too to quickly dismiss the coach in place Enderson Moreira, on his arrival in the spring of 2022. During the press conference on Tuesday, John Textor returned in a interesting on the very fluctuating popularity rating of the current Portuguese coach of Botafogo Luis Castro.
I was advised to fire the coach countless times in Brazil when we took over the club in March 2022. But I knew we had a good coach and a good man, which is the most important . Thanks to the performance data, we saw more things than the fans, and in particular that people were working at 100% of their capacities. At the end of the season, we finally thought we were smart not to give in to criticism. And at the end of 2022, Luis Castro was considered as the next coach of Brazil…”
Laurent Blanc will therefore be able to see the scenario he wants in these very different configurations. “We must commit to giving the tools to our coach, who has tremendous experience to achieve success”, insisted John Textor all the same.
- Will OL manage to keep their best young players this time?
The question is a classic with followers of the formidable academy, especially in a season marked by the sale (then loan) of Malo Gusto to Chelsea. So inevitably, when young people like Castello Lukeba, Rayan Cherki, Bradley Barcola and even Saël Kumbedi blaze in Ligue 1, they immediately seem destined to flee quickly. Will this still be the case this summer? There too, in the middle of tunnels of answers sometimes bordering on the irrelevant, John Textor was relevant: “Every young OL footballer dreams of playing for Lyon but he also sees himself one day at Manchester City or Chelsea. These young people must trust us and share their life plan with us. We can make them feel that we care about them, whatever their dreams are.”
The interim CEO continues: “If they trust us, more and more players are going to want to play for us, and I think that’s the right way to build an organization. It is love that wins titles. The best way to be sure that young players want to stay with us is to continue to love them and support them, from the fans to the administration”. All OL need is love ? This is the opinion of John Textor, who wants in this sense to “invest in players who want to grow with us”. All in order to finally aim better than a hypothetical qualification to the snatch in the Europa League Conference like this season? “For this club (currently 7th in Ligue 1), participating in the Champions League must be the objective each season, insists the strongman of OL. If we don’t go to the Champions League at the end of the 2023-2024 season, it will be a bit of a failure, won’t it? ” Take this, Giannis Antetokounmpo !