24 hours before OL's appearance before the DNCG, there is concern due to the state of the finances of John Textor's company. Will his promises be enough to avoid the worst?
The optimism at the end of last season has given way to great concern in Lyon. On a sporting level, OL are in the lead in the league and in the European Cup, even if, on these two counts, the results are not incredible either. But the Rhone club is doing well. On the other hand, regarding its economic health, OL is seeing negative information multiply. This while Laurent Prud'homme and John Textor are expected this Friday by the DNCG to provide an update on the current budget and the club's accounts. The financial debt of Eagle Football, which owns Olympique Lyonnais, has climbed further to reach 500 million euros, with real fears that it will struggle to meet deadlines if good news does not arrive quickly. The same goes for the Rhone club, which is dependent on its parent company.
Textor keeps its promises, but late
There are numerous promises to resolve these financial problems, including the sale of shares in Crystal Palace, the listing on the New York Stock Exchange or mysterious transfers of players. It remains to be seen whether this will be able to convince the DNCG, which risks being alerted by the overall financial situation of the owner of OL. According to a source close to Progress, John Textor generally tries to do what he says, and his promises can therefore be credible, but he has his agenda, and it is not necessarily that of the authorities. “ We cannot say that he does not do what he says, but on his terms and at his own pace », Explains this astute observer.
It will therefore be up to the financial policeman of French football to decide between probably three options: validate the American's promises, restrict his possibilities by limiting the winter transfer window or pronounce provisional relegation for failure to quickly provide concrete bank guarantees before the end of the month of June. This last scenario would be reminiscent of the bankruptcy of the Girondins de Bordeaux, who remained on the razor's edge for a long time before collapsing in the face of insolvency. And the fact that OL has had difficulty managing its cash flow with its suppliers in recent months does not alleviate concerns.
