Olympique Lyonnais (OL) likes to cultivate its uniqueness. Still involved in the Champions League, the club receives, Wednesday, February 26, Juventus Turin in the round of 16 of the flagship European football competition. A prestigious poster. At the height of that of a year ago, when OL received another European giant, FC Barcelona, at the same stage of this test.
However, the time is not for euphoria in the Rhône. The Lyonnais are going through one of their most complicated seasons and dragging their misery at the national level. Modest seventh in the Ligue 1 standings (tied with the eleventh) after 26 days, they are 7 points from the podium, following poor performances since September.
On the financial side, however, the club (310 million euros budget) is in good health and its president, Jean-Michel Aulas, never misses an opportunity to let people know. So much so that a question arises: Has OL become more important than sports policy at economic level?
Some of the most loyal supporters are not far from thinking so. Sunday, the most important association, the Bad Gones, hung a banner above the club ticket office on which we could read: "Coué method, values and identity soaring, supporters wandering … President, where has our OL gone? "
If she only held an hour before being picked up, her message was accompanied by a text explanation on Facebook: "So, Mr. President, stop wandering the loyal supporters that we are, get your nose out of your financial results and watch the exasperation mounting. "
OL replied a few hours later with a statement on its official website. Unsurprisingly, the club defended its model, which is "The only possible solution, without having to depend on a wealthy shareholder and without living above the means produced by himself to be competitive".
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Ebitda champion
Expert in media counterfires, Jean-Michel Aulas was already responsible for defending its management. Not hesitating to compare himself to the Marseille rival, who, posting an operating deficit over two years greater than 170 million euros, ahead of Lyon by 15 points in the ranking. "OM has again gotten into the red economically when it comes to financial fair play, unlike OL, which has a strong financial structure ", he said on February 17 in an interview with his club's official website, after a fourth match without a win in Ligue 1, against Strasbourg.
This propensity to highlight this success has become the object of a recurring joke. Wielding self-deprecation, the supporters, scalded by several seasons which they consider missed, made their club the champion of the ebitda (profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).
EBITDA DAY! Give everything to confirm the good results of OL! 🔴🔵 #JourdEBITDA #EBITDADay ⚽ Publication of… https://t.co/7MbSI6Qc4V
In his defense, the President of Lyon has reason to be satisfied with the management of a club he took over in 1987, when he was living in the second division. In January, Lyon returned to the top twenty in the Deloitte world ranking of clubs that generate the most revenue each season (17e, with 220.8 million euros).
Owner of his stadium (60,000 seats), recent purchaser of an American women's football franchise, OL announced at the beginning of the month the signing of a five-year jersey sponsorship contract with the airline. Emirates, for an unprecedented amount of around 20 million euros per season.
"Arsène Wenger's model at Arsenal"
"OL is trying to be self-sufficient by diversifying its income. This virtuous model allows incomes to no longer depend solely on sports hazards. It's a bit like the model developed by Arsène Wenger at Arsenal ", analyzes sports economist Luc Arrondel, who notes that"There is sometimes a contradiction between the maximization of profits, which involves lowering costs and therefore wages, and the maximization of victories, which involves increasing payroll".
If the club has found an appetite on the transfer market (about 150 million euros spent on nine players recruited since the summer of 2019), its balance still shows a positive balance of around 30 million euros. Above all, his payroll ranks him at 3e rank in Ligue 1, barely above OM (2.18 million, against 1.88 million).
“We communicate a lot about the economic results, which are certainly positive, but we realize that there is a gap between these and the investment made in the sportsman, in particular in the coach / staff part, which is neglected ", regrets Jonathan, editor in chief of the support media Café du commerce OL, which brings together more than 20,000 followers on Twitter.
Former sports director of Lille or general manager of Rennes and Paris FC, Pierre Dréossi delivers a cautious observation: "Yes, I think the sportsman does not outperform OL compared to everything they do very well in other areas. They should have better results but beware, what they are doing is good. "
"Very boring matches"
The misunderstanding grows among the Lyon public, tired of the irregularity of sports performance but also of the level of play proposed, despite a few sparks too scattered. However, even the thinnings offered by the cup routes – the semi-final of the Coupe de France on March 4 and the final of the Coupe de la Ligue on April 4 – are not enough to add sparkle to OL's sporting record. Already because, to win a first trophy since 2012, You will have to beat at least once the same opponent, the Parisian scarecrow.
“We are seeing very boring games, sometimes with almost no opportunity, and Jean-Michel Aulas tells you that it is playing well. Under Rémi Garde (coach from 2011 to 2014), the results were not always very good, we did not qualify twice for the Champions League (4e in 2012 and 5e in 2015), but there was more play, defends Jonathan. Today, we have neither the good game nor the results. "
Returning to Lyon in July 2019 as sports director, Gerland's ex-idol, Brazilian Juninho, has not yet been able to impose his mark. "Lyonnais leaders cannot find a sports policy that matches the ambitions and means of the club. But it takes time and they may find it with Juninho. This club has all the assets to succeed », analyzes Pierre Dréossi.
"Time for the sports management led by Juninho", this is also what President Aulas claims in his last press release, to finally achieve "To compete with PSG". A recurring promise that he has struggled to keep in recent seasons: 15 points apart from the first in 2018, 19 in 2019 and already … 28 this season.
More than the sacred union he has yet decreed, it is above all his ability to let go of the reins of Brazilian sports policy that the return of success may depend on. After all, as the esthete Johan Cruyff said: "We’ve never seen a bag of tickets score a goal. " Which could be translated as follows: "We have never seen a surplus balance sheet raise a crowd. "
