OL owner John Textor held a press conference this Saturday, November 16 following the DNCG sanctions against the club. Here's what you need to remember.
Early Friday, November 15, the financial policeman of French Football published sanctions against OL because of the worrying financial situation.
It was about a precautionary demotion to Ligue 2 at the end of the season if the club's finances do not improve by May 2025. But also of a ban on recruitment for the winter transfer window.
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DNCG: OL demoted as a precautionary measure!
The DNCG, financial policeman of French football,…
Saturday November 16 at 11:30 a.m., John Textor introduced himself facing journalists at a press conference in Décines.
She lasted two hours and was not broadcast live. The American spoke at length about this summons to face the DNCG, which is so important for the future of Olympique Lyonnais.
The OL coach Pierre Sage attended the press conference from the back of the room.
John Textor's statements to remember
“There are some very important topics to discuss today. I told the DNCG that I intended to make a presentation on everything that was said. The process with the DCNG is normally private. But we are a club listed on the stock exchange and therefore have an obligation of transparency which must be applied.
“There are risk factors that are part of our activity”
“What I am going to say is a quarterly report from a CEO of a listed company. With our outlook. There are risk factors that are part of our business. It is always important to warn investors ahead of what can be positive or negative.”
John Textor then presented a confidential document on a giant screen.
“It is important to say that this is a press release from a good year with total revenue of €362 million and an increase of +25%. There are many things from an accounting point of view that are complicated to understand.”
“On the debt balance: we could have better explained this figure if we had anticipated the reaction of the DNCG.”
No live press conference due to financial markets
“I didn't want to do this press conference live because I have a cold. Excuse me. But mainly because of the financial markets.”
“The auditor in Lyon made a mistake by not making a cash flow statement (cash flow) on the situation of OL. It's not OL who are helping Botafogo, even if it could happen. I would like to dismantle where the lack of understanding came from” with an analysis of a few lines of the confidential document.
To summarize on this point, according to John Textor: the auditor focused only on his activities in France. And not on Eagle Football Group's other international activities (Botafogo in Brazil, Molenbeek in Belgium and Crystal Palace Football Club in England.)
“We have an information problem with the auditor and the DNCG”
“We have been transparent but the auditor says in black and white that he does not want to look at the information on our activities in France. We blamed him. The auditor limited himself to the subsidiary. […] We have an information problem with the auditor and the DNCG.”
“I don’t think it’s responsible for an auditor to say I don’t want to look at the big picture.”
“They want to play at Botafogo to be part of a family”
“In Brazil, we are an extraordinary success because we have several clubs. This is an advantage when recruiting in South America. They (the players) want to play at Botafogo to be part of a family with the aim of going to play in Europe. And European players also want to come to Brazil to play.”
“We are a team of players before being a team of supporters.”
“OL is not a club in danger”
“OL is not a club in danger. We will save cash with the sale of Crystal Palace. We can also pay debts elsewhere on other Eagle Football Group subsidiaries with these profits. We have asset and player sales, we think our plan will work. […] We will go beyond our projections. […] As a global organization, we have many tools to address the situation.”
“The DNCG has a difficult challenge: digesting a lot of information very quickly. I don't think they are experts on the New York Stock Exchange. We have experts who will put their names on our IPO.”
“We concluded that the DNCG did not have confidence in us. We contacted five banks recognized around the world. We are in a dynamic of transformation. We are not going to Wall Street (bourse newyorkaise) as a football organization.”
On the near future of Rayan Cherki:
“We lost €15 million on Rayan Cherki. We are very proud of him. He has greater value than if he had left this summer. Will he stay in January? I hope so and I think that he wants it. We wanted to recruit to be stronger in the championship and in the Europa League.”
“We have a coach who must decide which players he wants to put on the pitch. We have almost too many players in the current squad. We have created a very difficult task where Pierre Sage has almost impossible decisions to make. […] We added value to OL so that they could return to the high level.”
Facing the DNCG, John Textor praised the merits of Botafogo
John Textor then presented slides which were illustrated at the DNCG. He extolled the merits of Botafogo with a “grand stade” at the cutting edge of technology before claiming to have lowered the price of tickets “at almost 0€.” By continuing that the Brazilian club is a strong element of the Eagle Football Group family in the same way as OL.
“The good figures at Botafogo affect the other Eagle Football Group teams including OL. We have multiplied revenues by five in Brazil since 2021. This is the image of success that we should be talking about on X (formerly Twitter.)“
“I don't know how it's going to go but I love this way of doing business”
“The banks of the world will love our IPO. I have no guarantee but I am convinced of it. We went with several solutions: selling players, a team, having money before the IPO stock market…etc.
“I don't know how it's going to happen but I love this way of doing business. We presented these ideas to the DNCG. They have the right to doubt it. We have to face that.”
John Textor placed one on Vincent Labrune
“With all the respect I have for the DNCG, we do not need financial assistance to maintain OL.”
“Today, we earn more money thanks to the Europa League than Ligue 1. This is something that our president of the League (Vincent Labrune) could improve.”
To conclude before questions from the press: “we are very optimistic. I say it again: we are not going to be relegated”
“Finally, I want to remind you that we are proud of our cost reductions and savings. It's true that I have problems with the DNCG, it's a lesson for me. For an American capitalist, the DNCG did not exist before. We are very optimistic about our model. The possibility of not achieving this could result in relegation.”
“Last year I was the only idiot to say we're not going to be relegated. I'll say it again a year later: we're not going to be relegated. Nobody will allow the club to do this.
“We don't need any help. Thanks.” It was with these words that the long speech ended.
Press questions for John Textor
Journalist: is the investor ARES still behind you?
John Textor : “It's a private loan. They don't have OL's assets as guarantee. You have to understand that it's not debt that's worrying. The interest rate is high enough at around 13 % It's high compared to a normal loan but not for this type. The only guarantee they have is my equity. My challenge as a self-employed person is to increase the value if I can do it.
“When I pay off this debt in 4 or 5 years, the value of my assets will have increased. For example, I paid zero euros for Botafogo. No one should worry about ARES. Otherwise, the only person penalized , that would be me.”
What is the next step with the DNCG to show them that you are capable of staying in Ligue 1?
“In the past, we had to receive a warning with a number. We didn't get an indication that there might be a problem until a day or two but it wasn't an official letter. But in the summer , in the past, when you had to put an exact number it was simpler.
“We can appeal. This is what was explained to us by email. I don't know if we are going to appeal because we are happy where we are. We cannot appeal on a warning. We are going to talk to the DNCG.”
Are you able to provide between €100 and €200 million to save the club?
“We can't bring in cash. That was in our projection. If we do the same level of player sales every year, everything will be fine. Otherwise, we will have to inject cash. If the business is going well generate cash, why do it? We are going to put money into the club in November and December.”
Will the sale of Crystal Palace go entirely to OL? How to sell shares correctly?
“The group is flexible and the Eagle clubs will have what they need. We will eliminate a certain number of significant debts. These are decisions that we will make.”
How can you get out of this problem with the DNCG while having few levers?
“If Crystal Palace wasn't the equation, we wouldn't have as many assets. Let's be careful to talk about decisions in the past. They were good decisions. Sustainability is our focus. We now have an account sustainable exploitation. My relationship with the DNCG is one of learning.”
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