Olympique Lyonnais’ season reads like a Netflix soap opera. Each episode brings its share of comings and goings and bad news. Between the DNCG turmoil of the summer, a limited and reduced transfer window, departures within the management, changes of coach, After the incidents at the Orange Velodrome and the catastrophic results, the citizens of the Groupama Stadium have not been spared. In the midst of all this stalemate, Les Gones also have to deal with the thorny case of Jean-Michel Aulas.
The former club president, now honorary president, has multiplied his attacks aimed at John Textor and Eagle Football in recent months. The U. S. businessman, like Chief Executive Santiago Cucci, did hold back in the face of criticism. In an interview with several media outlets on Aug. 29, Textor announced that it had been one of his considerations about the DNCG at the time of the sale of the OL. A lie according to the former boss of the Rhône club, who has filed a complaint against John Textor and Eagle Football. for defamation.
At fault, knowing that JMA had appealed to the Commercial Court of Lyon to order the freezing of 14. 5 million euros of the club and the pledge of John Textor’s shares. Santiago Cucci demonstrated this in the columns of L’Equipe. ” Jean-Michel Aulas blocked our accounts in the middle of the move-in window and put us in jeopardy in our discussions about our lines of credit. It is acting against the interests of the club and against our own heritage, which we would like to respect. We had an assembly with Jean-Michel at the beginning of August, everything went very well. And while he was talking to me, he seized all the bank accounts, all without exception. He’s a bit like Dr. Jean-Michel and Mr. Aulas. He’s lovely, we want to work with him and collaborate. But underneath the rhetoric, he’s putting his interests first. “
Aulas defended himself and explained: “OL has been my club for 35 years, it will always be my club. I deal with Textor, the head of the Eagle, and tell him that it will be the OL Groupe that will buy back the shares of the Eagle’s. caution and that if OL Groupe is unable to do so, Eagle will update you. I think it was approved by the board of directors on May 10 of this year. The procedure in the Commercial Court was the only one imaginable that Eagle approved, it was not Eagle. (. . . ) This was done on August 10. There was no cash in the accounts. The DNCG had asked not to invest more than €25 million. At that point, “It was done. You might think I’m the one who blocked the accounts, but it’s not me!It’s Cucci’s smoke and mirrors edit, which makes you think I tried to slow down OL. “
While it seemed that relations between the two sides had more or less calmed down, that was not to be the case. On Tuesday, the Olympique-et-Lyonnais website will show some important information. Thus, we are informed that Jean-Michel Aulas, who had pocketed a large bonus of €10 million as a resilience subsidy at the time of the club’s sale, has been attacked via OL. The club is asking for “the annulment of the protocol of the agreement, which provided for the commitments to be fulfilled for each party” and the reimbursement of the sum of 10 million euros (the bonuses) according to oetl.
JMA would have no sure obligations such as not damaging the club’s symbol by denigrating it and helping the Lyon team. For all these reasons, OL must initiate legal proceedings before the Commercial Court of Paris on 3 October. The war rages on between John Textor’s Olympique Lyonnais and the charismatic Jean-Michel Aulas. To be continued in the next episode.