New Lyon president John Textor sets Champions League objective

Appearing before the press this afternoon for the first time as Lyon’s new president, American investor John Textor has laid out his plans for the club.

Textor explained that although he is the majority shareholder, he is only looking to serve as president on an interim basis, and would like to bring in a successor to Jean-Michel Aulas who has ties to the club – even if he does intend to be in Lyon often.

On whether the club will hire a sporting director, the 57-year-old has indicatd that the new management is looking to “add, not take away” personnel, but that for the time being they are exploring the broad directions in which they can take the club rather than specific candidates. Although he has lent his support to manager Laurent Blanc, the futures of director Vincent Ponsot and of head of recruitment Bruno Cheyrou were not discussed. 

With regard to on-field objectives, Textor points out that qualifying for the Champions League “should be the objective every season“, pointing to the club’s resources and final 15 games of the current season as proof they can challenge. “If we don’t reach the Champions League, it will be something of a failure”. To do this, the American intends to “invest in scouting” to find “talents that will grow with time”, using “traditional methods but also with modern tools”.

GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin