The boss of French football’s financial regulator has hit back at criticisms made by Lyon owner John Textor, accusing the American of a “clear and persistent lack of understanding” of the rules.
In a long interview with French radio station RMC on Monday evening, Textor said November’s decision by the Direction Nationale du Controle de Gestion (DNCG) to provisionally relegate Lyon to Ligue 2 next season over concerns with the club’s finances was “preposterous”.
Textor, whose Eagle Football Group also owns 45 per cent of Crystal Palace and majority stakes in Brazilian champions Botafogo and Belgian second-tier side RWD Molenbeek, accused the DNCG of not understanding his multi-club ownership model and of being unduly influenced by his rivals in the French league, particularly Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
But in a statement released on Tuesday that was sent to The Athletic, DNCG chairman Jean-Marc Mickeler said he was “surprised” to learn of Textor’s remarks, as the watchdog acts “within a strict regulatory framework” to ensure the financial sustainability of the French professional game and treats all clubs equally.
“Mr Textor’s statements on the alleged attachment of the DNCG to the league, or on the discriminatory treatment of (Lyon), demonstrate a clear and persistent lack of understanding of the rules governing the regulation of professional football in France,” he said.
Textor accused the DNCG of being influenced by PSG and their president Al-Khelaifi (Getty Images)
Mickeler continued by saying the DNCG had made “unprecedented” efforts to understand Textor’s plans since his arrival in France in late 2022, with his staff carefully explaining the regulator’s requirements to Textor and his team.
He dismissed Textor’s protests as “unfounded assertions” that distract everyone from the need for “concrete and credible solutions” to Lyon’s debts, which rose to over half a billion euros last year, and urged the Eagle Football boss to deliver his various plans for improving Lyon’s finances.
And, in a final shot across Textor’s bows, Mickeler called on the Lyon owner “to adopt a serious stance — French football deserves serious investors who respect its institutions and are committed to working in a spirit of cooperation and transparency”.
Textor declined to comment on Mickeler’s statement when contacted by The Athletic but suggested he will have more to say about his wider critique of the DNCG’s approach to Lyon and Eagle Football in the days to come.
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The French Football Federation (FFF) has weighed in, though, saying it has full confidence in the DNCG, which “operates with total independence and perfect integrity”. However, the governing body added that its president Philippe Diallo has “serious concerns” about the financial health of the French league and wants to bring the league, DNCG and clubs together to “explore pathways for the necessary recovery of professional football”.
Textor told The Athletic he would be happy to take part in these talks and confirmed that he had already apologised for comments he made about Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) boss Vincent Labrune in his appearance on ex-PSG star Jeremy Rothen’s RMC show.
In an answer about his strained relationship with Al-Khelaifi, Textor described Labrune as the PSG chief’s “lapdog” for failing to stand up to the Qatari during a crisis meeting with club owners about the league’s disastrous media rights auction.
Textor says he has apologised to Labrune (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
That process, which was only resolved weeks before the start of this season, left London-based streamer DAZN with the bulk of the rights and beIN Sports, the Doha-based media giant run by Al-Khelaifi, with the week’s best game. The total value of these deals is €500m (£420m), half what Labrune had promised and significantly less than last season’s arrangement.
Textor was among several club owners who believed the league should create its own streaming platform and sell passes directly to fans. But, he claims, they were “bullied” by Al-Khelaifi into accepting beIN’s offer, while Labrune said nothing. Textor told RMC that this was just another example of the “extraordinary control” Al-Khelaifi exerts over a league that his team has dominated for the last decade.
While Textor is keen to work with Labrune and other club owners on how best to boost French football’s revenues by improving the television product it sells, there is no sign of any peace offerings being sent in Al-Khelaifi’s direction, which means their feud continues.
A spokesperson for PSG responded to Textor’s RMC interview by saying, “It’s a shame that class and elegance cannot be bought because that would have stopped Mr Textor from making a fool of himself through his crude and false comments about our president, club and fans”.
The short statement, which was sent to The Athletic, concluded by inviting Textor “back to earth, and to France, too, so he could better understand this Ligue 1 we love so much”.
The bad blood between them started last summer when Textor told Brazilian outlet Globo that he was competing against “a country, not an owner” in France, as PSG has a business model “of unbridled spending, without restrictions”.
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That prompted PSG’s general secretary Victoriano Melero to send Textor an open letter that warned him of legal action if he continued to make “defamatory and damaging statements” about the French champions
It is advice Textor has appeared to ignore, as he expanded on his comments to Globo in Monday’s RMC interview.
Over several answers, he accused Al-Khelaifi and PSG of breaking European Union laws against the use of foreign subsidies to distort competition, a reference to the huge annual losses the Paris club have posted since they were bought by Qatar Sports Investments, a state-backed fund, in 2011.
Textor also said he would not sell any of Lyon’s best players to Al-Khelaifi and claimed he only agreed to the 2023 transfer of Bradley Barcola because the France winger made it clear he wanted to move to PSG. Textor said he only wants players at Lyon who “dream of following (Lyon legends) Juninho, Fekir and Benzema”.
This would appear to rule out the chance of current Lyon star Rayan Cherki joining Barcola at PSG any time soon.
In fact, on Tuesday, French outlet Foot Mercato published two WhatsApp messages which were sent by Textor to someone at a rival club, asking them if they were still interested in signing Cherki, who Textor refers to as “this little asshole”.
Cherki has been one of Lyon’s best players this season (Jeff Pachoud/AFP via Getty Images)
Foot Mercato does not name the club but Textor has confirmed to The Athletic that it was PSG, who were widely reported to have agreed a deal to sign Cherki with the player’s representatives last year.
In his first message, Textor tells PSG that Borussia Dortmund had been in contact about Cherki but he would tell them to “fuck off” if PSG “still want the player”. The second message suggests the rival club replied to say they were still interested, to which Textor responded “terrific”, before clarifying that the player is “a good kid” but his “team of people are total assholes”. Textor signs off by saying he will tell Cherki that, “Dortmund can fuck off”.
In the end, Cherki decided to extend his contract with Lyon last year and has been in superb form this season, helping the team recover from a slow start to the season to remain in contention for a Champions League place next season via the league or by winning the Europa League.
The leaked messages, however, do reveal Textor’s knack for straight-talking, which was also very evident during his radio appearance this week.
In the meantime, he remains very confident that Lyon will not be relegated to Ligue 2 next season, as has already injected €85m in cash into the business since the DNCG made its threat in November, with Eagle Football expected to make more than €65m in player sales this window.
Lyon have already sold Maxine Caqueret, Jeffinho and Gift Orban, while Brazilian stars Cuiabano, Luiz Henrique, Igor Jesus and Junior Santos are among those expected to leave Botafogo.
There is also the not-insignificant matter of his long-running attempt to sell his Palace shares, although they appear to be a much tougher sell than his players.
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(Top photo: Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
