Faced with his responsibilities, even if he did not wait for this moment to clarify his plan, by the DNCG sanctions, John Textor must now bring concrete action to OL's finances.
Like the players, who returned to training on Monday, John Weaver must now be activated. Not that he doesn't work on a daily basis, but after the sanctions imposed on Friday by the DNCG, the financial policeman of French Football, we must now provide solid and concrete guarantees. In all this economic hodgepodge, one thing is certain, OL and its president should be settled fairly quickly.
After the announcement of the measures taken against him (recruitment ban, payroll control and relegation as a precautionary measure), Olympique Lyonnais hopes to see the American implement his plan. This one is quite clear: sales of players (in all Eagle Football Holding clubs), listing on the New York Stock Exchange, sale of its shares in Crystal Palace, even a contribution of equity capital.
The DNCG wants something concrete
This is what he presented to the National Directorate of Management Control on Friday, which clearly did not convince his interlocutors. “The DNCG is not a rating agency or a bank, all it wants is to ensure the solvency of the company. So if John Textor had been able to prove that the flows, which will surely come, were certain, there would have been no sanctions“, explains an investment banker well versed in the world of football.
Because the whole crux of the problem is there. The members of the commission wait for the actions to be carried out, when the Eagle leader anticipates this a few months later. “He complains that the DNCG did not continue to believe in the viability of its business plan, when it has done none of this since this summer, continues our interlocutor. To make the analogy, it's as if during a class project, a student arrived and said “I'm going to tackle this subject and I'm going to do it like that”, and three months later, he hasn't made any progress. and didn't really work.”
Actions for the end and beginning of the year
These “misunderstandings” are a real concern because they place OL in a delicate position, both for the transfer window and sportingly. On the Rhône side, we deny not providing tangible commitments. “It's not just projections, we have a lot of assets, assured Laurent Prud'hommethe general manager, Saturday. For the IPO – Eagle's future stock market debut on Wall Street – I can understand that we are talking about projection, because it remains the Stock Exchange. But for Crystal Palace, we have four candidates, there is Botafogo and his players… It's concrete.”
Obviously, this is not the vision retained by the financial policeman. It is now up to the club to show its credentials by completing its projects by June 30, 2025. Logically, this should be the case even well before, and we should be clear on the direction it is taking from February- March. After the promises, it’s time for action, so to speak.
Bad publicity for OL and John Textor
The fact remains that this “advertising” is not good for Olympique Lyonnais. It maintains a lead cover above Décines. “The big European teams do not work this way. There are certainly questionable financial arrangements, but also a real guideline, it is not done with a cookie cutter […] It's the vagueness that we've been denouncing since his arrival, everything always takes a very long time.”regrets Nicolas Puydeboisconsultant of As long as there are Gone.
If of course, through his positions, John Textor has not only made friends among his Ligue 1 colleagues, not agreeing to comply with the wishes of the DNCG, even if we can debate his conception of the thing, won't help. “I start from the principle that when you start a game, you know the rules. From there, by buying OL, he knew what he had to do, believes Enzo Real. He does not respect his commitments. The club finds itself with significant debts and we wonder if it has the money somewhere, or if it is really in serious difficulty.
Little risk that OL will sink completely
A priori, the native of Kirksville, Missouri, is calm. “We are very happy with where we are.”he added during his press conference. It must be said that at the moment T, even if the level of debt, a little over 500 million euros, is high, this is not the first thing to observe. What is important are the assets. However, the latter, mainly those in the long term, are falling. You must also take into account the lender(s) (including Ares), the rate and the repayment schedule. For the moment, creditors have no interest in their debts going up in smoke, which, a priori, will prevent the institution from going out of business in the coming months.
Thus, the situation, although it may seem worrying, will depend above all on the validation or not of the actions to raise at least 100 million euros by the summer. “I think Olympique Lyonnais will finish the season. He will find money […] In the short term, the measures announced during the publication of annual results will be sufficientpredicts our investment banker. The reassuring thing is the assets, and mainly the stadium, as well as the players.“Patience then, we will quickly be fixed.
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