It’s the dawn of a new era at Lyon. Newly-named president and majority shareholder John Textor, who as of this week has taken over from Jean-Michel Aulas after the latter’s 36 years in charge, faced the media on Wednesday evening to lay out his plans for the club.
Textor first sought to quell reports of any tensions between him and Aulas behind the scenes, indicating that they had simply decided that now was the right time make the transition (the former president was initially scheduled to be at the helm for another three years after the takeover was completed). The American investor nevertheless added that Aulas would still be around the team in the years to come, and would remain as a minority shareholder as well.
Reports from earlier today had indicated that manager Laurent Blanc’s position could be in danger in the wake of Aulas’ departure, and that the new American management were not convinced by the former centre-back. Textor has denied this:
“We are going to keep and support Laurent Blanc. Our manager deserves to have a lot of support this summer. The club has worked well over the last 15 matches. We need to add quality and experience. What we saw on Sunday [the 5-4 win over Montpellier] is what great players do.”
