A sadly historic date in Lyon. This Tuesday evening, June 24, John Textor and football director Michael Gerlinger defended Lyon's case before the DNCG, but the financial watchdog confirmed the administrative demotion ordered as a precautionary measure on November 15, 2024, under Article 11 of its regulations. The body deemed the guarantees presented insufficient despite repeated assurances from the American owner, resulting in Olympique Lyonnais officially being sent to Ligue 2—a first since 1989. In a statement released immediately afterward, the club said it "acknowledged an incomprehensible decision" and announced an immediate appeal, while the prospect of Stade de Reims being relegated to Ligue 1 already loomed over the summer. To understand the severity of the verdict, we must return to the colossal debt weighing on the Eagle Football holding company.
Some €485 million was declared in October, while the DNCG was demanding a €175 million rebalancing from the club before June 30. Lyon has indeed reduced its payroll, sold Maxence Caqueret to Como and Rayan Cherki to Manchester City (nearly €80 million in total), and Textor signed the sale of 45% of Crystal Palace on Sunday for just over €200 million. The problem: this cash did not yet appear in the consolidated accounts submitted Tuesday, so the committee considered that the equation remained in deficit. The club now has seven days to appeal and inject the funds in a traceable manner; otherwise, the relegation will be confirmed and OL will have to face the 2025-2026 season in Ligue 2, with a reduced budget and a European future already compromised. But even if some are optimistic, enough is enough for Lyon supporters, especially the Bad Gones who quickly filled the streets of Lyon in the early hours to send several messages.
Stinging banners
In the early hours of Wednesday, June 25, Lyon awoke to an electric atmosphere. Banners bearing angry slogans—"Textor out!" and "The people rise up"—spread out in front of the Groupama Stadium, on the eastern ring road, near the Fourvière Basilica, and even on several bridges spanning the Rhône and Saône rivers. Their appearance, orchestrated before dawn by the Bad Gones, crystallized the anger that had erupted the previous evening, when the DNCG confirmed OL's relegation to Ligue 2. For many Lyonnais, this relegation was experienced as a humiliation, and each new banner added to the city sounded like an ultimatum addressed to the American majority shareholder. The contrast between the still-calm streets and these hostile messages made the atmosphere particularly tense, giving the awakening a whiff of open crisis. A few hours earlier, on their social networks, the Bad Gones had already unceremoniously dropped John Textor.
Ce matin à Lyon... #TeamOL pic.twitter.com/O6FDSmxvts
— Littlecelt (@Littlecelt) June 25, 2025
"John Textor has never been and will never be the right man for the job... This Botafogo supporter must now disappear from the Lyon landscape... Textor out!" they write, even calling on "his many creditors to take control" to "hand over the keys to Olympique Lyonnais to someone who will respect our institution ." This statement, followed by a shock action in the streets, marks a clear break: the main ultra group, long determined to temporize despite the lackluster results, is now openly demanding Textor's head. Between calls for the "disappearance" of the owner and visible mobilization throughout Lyon, the fracture seems total and suggests a lasting standoff while the club is still trying to organize its appeal against the DNCG's decision. How distant the period when Lyon supporters, in unison, supported "cowboy Johnny" against PSG and Nasser al-Khelaïfi already seems.
0 Comments