Is former US pro skateboarder John Textor destroying Olympique Lyonnais?

No victory in nine games, one last place in Ligue 1 – Olympique Lyonnais has not experienced such a crisis since the 1990s. The ship is sinking, curiously soon after American businessman John Textor took over at the top.

On December 19, 2022, Olympique Lyonnais announced in a press release the start of an unprecedented collaboration with the Eagle Football Group, owned by John Textor. Textor, it turns out had become the majority shareholder of the club with more than 87% of the club's capital.

Olympique Lyonnais was in the grip of great financial difficulties and its president, Jean-Michel Aulas was candid about his concerns for the future of the club. As such Textor's arrival provided some welcome news for supporters and instant stability for the club.

Already the owner and shareholder of several football clubs including Botafogo, Crystal Palace and RWD Molenbeek, the American businessman is passionate about football and wants to make OL "the epicenter" of his project.

However, less than a year later, the Rhone club is in dire straits. How did the club get here? Let's dig a little deeper...

This may come as a surprise to many, but John Textor is not just a businessman... he is also a former professional athlete. Indeed, the American, a native of Missouri, had a career in skateboarding before launching into the world of business.

At just 12 years old, he won the freestyle event of the prestigious Pepsi Skateboard Team Challenge in Tampa. Textor was one of the best American skateboarders of his generation. When he was just 20 years old, he fell awkwardly and hit his head. A knock that permanently took him away from the world of skateboarding.

However, the young man was not discouraged and found a new passion: the virtual world. Passionate about special effects, he set up his company to become the “guru of virtual reality in Hollywood” according to Forbes magazine.

From 2006 to 2012, the American was chairman of the board of directors of Digital Domain, a special effects studio created by director James Cameron. In 2012, the businessman began creating holograms with his company Pulse Evolution.

You might actually be familiar with Textor's work in this area as it was his company that created the hologram of the American rap legend Tupac Shakur during the Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre's concert at the Coachella festival in 2012.

After experience in artificial intelligence through his company EvolutionAI, he decided to return to the world of sport by co-founding the streaming service FuboTV. After trying to buy the Portuguese clubs Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, he finally bought 40% of the shares in the English club Crystal Palace.

Ever ambitious, Textor plans, via his company Eagle Football, to create a group of clubs that help each other, like that of the City Football Group, which owns twelve clubs, including Manchester City, New York City, Melbourne City, Girona, Troyes, Mumbai, Palermo and even Bahia.

He subsequently bought 90% of the capital of the Brazilian club Botafogo, then 80% of the Belgian club Molenbeek, then in the second division. In December 2022, he bought OL.

In May 2023, Textor made the decision to part ways with OL's longtime president Jean-Michel Aulas. Coach Peter Bosz is also fired and Lyon opens a new page in its history.

Laurent Blanc is put in place as the club's manager, but the results are not flattering. The recruits (Jeffinho, Amin Sarr...) struggled to integrate and the club finished in a forgettable 7th place.

OL's 2023-2024 season begins with a catastrophic pre-season and the early results in the league are not good. Blanc is then dismissed and Fabio Grosso takes his spot on the bench.

Since his arrival on September 18, the Italian manager has not won a match (three defeats, one draw) and seems totally overwhelmed. Former player Jérôme Rothen declared on October 24 that the man in charge had “antagonized all the players”.

This statement allegedly infuriated Grosso, who canceled training to find the Lyon "mole in the locker room". Things don't seem to be improving at OL and Textor denies any possibility of relegation at the end of the season: "People are worried about things that make no sense. I hear about relegation ... There is no risk of relegation even if we can have a mediocre season. That's the risk."

This situation is completely different from that of his other club, Botafogo, which leads the Brazilian Serie A with a seven-point lead. As for Molenbeek, the club is in a correct 11th place in the Belgian championship. Mixed fortunes for the Eagle Football Group it seems.

Much criticized in France, the American does not seem worried and continues to believe in OL's chances this season. Will this mindset bear fruit? We'll have to see.

The winter transfer window could be a game-changer for Lyon however. That is if Textor is willing to invest and bring new players and new life to the iconic club that looks to be on hiding to nothing.