#FUCK John Textor

[redwineconversation]

Wendie Renard OLPlay Segment

I do think that some of the, how do I put this diplomatically, nutcases who like to trash Wendie Renard's reputation are incapable of answering a simple question: how can someone as homophobic as they like to make her out to be be so respected by players who know her and work with her? Whom are we supposed to trust, Twitter user MeadoCuleFan4Life or Renard's own teammates?

Anyway, pour yourself a glass of a decent Sauvignon Blanc and let's have a good and proper chat about WoSo's favorite bad Catholic, led by those who actually know her.

WENDIE RENARD OLPLAY SEGMENT: "WENDIE IS A PIONNER OF WOMEN'S FOOTBALL"

Ellie Carpenter [in English]: Yeah, Wendie [Renard] is a pioneer for women's football in France. For Lyon, she's a legend, and for the French National Team as well. I'm just honored to be playing with her at club, and it's an honor to her that she's been nominated so many times to the Ballon d'Or. So it's definitely deserved.

Anthony Lopes [Lyon men's goalkeeper]: It's hard to have longevity in the world of sports, especially at the top level. Wendie [Renard] handles it extremely well. I think she does - she's really an example for all the girls who want to do it [sports] longterm, who want to be perform. Wendie, she racks up good performance after good performance, she keeps getting nominated for the Ballon d'Or.

Alexandre Lacazette [Lyon men's forward]: Well it's remarkable what she's doing with Lyon, what she's doing with the French National Team. Even from a young age, she was able to make a place for herself a team who was already winning. And for her to remain an undisputed starter, captain, it shows all the qualities she has a a player and more importantly as a human being.

Dzsenifer Marozsan: Of course, a big leader on the field and also off the field. It [the Ballon d'Or nomination] is obviously deserved because each year she is very consistent, she's in charge of the team. She has a big heart as well. It's why she deserved it so much and why I am so happy for her.

Ellie Carpenter [in English]: Yeah, she's the best leader I've been under. Since I arrived here four seasons ago, you can just tell that she's very good with the team, she has such a good winning mentality but she also cares for the players and she's a great leader to have and also to play along side.

Anthony Lopes: Yeah, of course, she has an incredible presence. It's true that when you see her on the field, it's like when you see her in every day life. When she enters a room, you know it's Wendie Renard. So she's imposing. And I think that's important. it's important to stand out when you're competing in sports at the top level because it shows you're there, that you have the character for it, and that you're there to win.

Alexandre Lacazette: Yeah, I think she's a good captain for Lyon. She was able to set an example for many young players, that with a lot of hard work you can make it at the top level.

Ellie Carpenter [in English]: She is very funny, actually, when it's all fun and jokes. But when it's business, it's definitely business. And we know when it's business, because she turns into that mode.

Dzsenifer Marozsan: In the locker room, off the field, in life, everything, she's always very professional. There you have it. She's always there for us, for the players, to give advice and everything. That's why she is such a great leader.

#all good love stories start in the rain #Ellie carpenter #Anthony lopes #alexandre lacazette #dzsenifer marozsan #great leaders don't ask their knights to kneel #they do it automatically #rip Lyon's men's team I guess #but also #FUCK John Textor

[redwineconversation]

say something babe, do something (Olympique Lyonnais 2024 Contracts)

"You're Losing Me" is about the events which led up to what happened in "Maroon" and I will not entertain theories to the contrary.

Anyway, let's have a chat about Lyon's 2024 contracts, which I have addressed a little in the past and privately, but with Hegerberg's comments, it's worth revisiting.

Here are the major 2024 contracts: Ada Hegerberg, Griedge M'Bock, Delphine Cascarino, Perle Morroni, Christiane Endler, Vanessa Gilles, Vicki Becho, Eugenie Le Sommer.

Those are pretty considerable players. We're talking about the club's best and second best goal scorer, their starting goalkeeper, one of the best center backs in the world, a world class right winger, a world class left back, and arguably a very talented youngster. Losing those players would be catastrophic for the club, especially because there aren't really any equivalent players wandering around.

But why are we in a situation where we could lose such an important part of the roster?

First factor: John Textor taking over Olympique Lyonnais.

Nothing good has come from John Textor being the new owner. He fired Aulas, decided not to pay Aulas' separation agreement, decided to sell the women's team to a friend of his but a stranger to the team, failed to pass the financial watchdog not once not twice but three times, caused massive upheaval in the club, and is more hung up on Botafogo than Beth Mead stans are about the thought of Ellie Carpenter breathing.

John Textor fired Aulas because he didn't want Aulas' influence at the club anymore, and while you can argue that as majority owner he has the right to do what he wants with the club's personnel, Lyon's men team is also sitting bottom of the league and is about to have their third coach in as many months. There is enormous turmoil at Olympique Lyonnais and John Textor is the sole reason for it. He doesn't know what it means to run a successful European club and thinks he can do whatever he wants just like he did with Botofago. European clubs work different.

Perhaps John Textor's only saving grace is that he sold Lyon Feminin to Michele Kang. That's a good thing.

Or, well, is it?

Obviously given the choice between John Textor running Olympique Lyonnais Feminin or Michele Kang running it, I will choose Michele Kang. She is invested in women's soccer, believes in running it like a business, and seems to, at the very least, have some sort of interest in the sports. She has Lyon's interest at heart from a business perspective. She shows up to games, has plans, has ambitions.

All good things.

But what she is lacking is European experience. The fact of the matter is Washington Spirit is not a heavyweight club like Olympique Lyonnais Feminin is and you cannot recruit players for Washington Spirit at all because of the fucking draft the way Lyon needs their recruitment to be run. This club, with its European ambitions, cannot and should be run based on the premise of youth promise or trades.

What works with Washington Spirit is fine because that is restricted to the NWSL where there are no consequences for bad draft decisions. Bad recruitment for a European team can, has, and will cost a team the Champions League. It can, has, and will cost a team the league which affects their ability to go in the UWCL group stages and instead a team will find themselves against the likes of a scalp hunting team like Paris FC.

A team can finish rock bottom in the NWSL and there are absolutely zero consequences for the following season. It's a closed league with nothing at stake. If a team doesn't make the playoffs one season, who cares? There's always the next season. You don't win the Shield, that's a shame. You don't get the winner's bonus but that's it, really. You get another shot at it next season.

Camille Abily raised this concern about the playoffs in her recent OL Night Systems interview. Because of the structure, there is an actual possibility that Lyon might not even qualify for the UWCL playoffs, much less the group stage.

And that is always, always, always going to affect recruitment for a team of Lyon's calibre. I don't have the calendar in front of me, but I think the playoffs are May 12 and May 16 (or somewhere around those dates). Let's just roll with that. Now, Lyon has too many experienced players, too many international players, to be satisfied with not playing UWCL one season.

Ada Hegerberg is not going to stick around for a team who is not going to play Champions League, she just won't. Christiane Endler probably won't. Griedge M'Bock won't. Delphine Cascarino won't. I'm not even sure if the 2025 contracts would stick around - Selma Bacha definitely won't.

The type of players Lyon have just aren't going to accept chilling at home during the weekdays and watching other teams play the UWCL the entire season. That's just not going to happen.

Even if you can lock down these players prior to May 12, 2024 - and that's a massive if - any player with self-esteem is going to have an escape clause. As I said, Hegerberg isn't going to stick around for a team not playing in the Champions League all season. It's not going to happen. So how do you prepare for a team whose significant amount of players will be gun-shy to sign and then will want an escape clause even if they do?

It affects the recruitment. I've been vocal about wanting Leuchter, but would Lyon really be able to attract her? Not as things stand. They can't promise UWCL until May 12 at best, can't guarantee playing time, can't really say anything other than "okay... but like ... maybe... think about it?"

So we're back to the Michele Kang dilemma: what can she do, exactly?

At the moment, absolutely nothing, because she doesn't even officially own this team, and can't own it until OL Reign is officially sold. Seattle Sounders FC have officially entered negotiations to purchase the team but nothing has been finalized, and we are back to John Textor's "trust me, bro" in terms of seeing if it even occurs.

Even Textor had kept on Aulas until the sale of OL Reign was officially completed then there would have been an element of stability which is missing right now. Kang can't even make guarantees because she doesn't even own them. Yes, she's there, yes, she's behind the scenes, and yes, she is showing up.

But she doesn't own them. She can't make those final decisions.

But there is one other major factor: crowd attendance.

It's not a super persuasive argument in my mind, but it's still there. Lyon players deserve bigger crowds than they have. Now, there are factors which do explain the crowd attendance: Lyon's men team are absolutely shit. That does influence crowd attendance for female teams. If the men's team is successful, then people will care about other parts of the club. This will upset certain fan clubs, but let's be quite frank about it.

When Lyon men were capable of winning games, Lyon Fem was hitting in the 25k-30k range attendance at the Groupama Stadium. Then COVID hit, the men started being shit, Lyon Fem went through a season where they were trophyless, and that leads us to today. I'm not saying all of those are great arguments, but they are factors we need to take into consideration.

Lyon Fem gets ripped into for bad performances. The crowd is extremely unforgiving. Lyon had one (1) bad season where they didn't win anything and it did affect crowd attendance at the women's games for the following seasons. There are consequences to not living up to expectations. Lyon's shitty start to the 2022-2023 had consequences which we're still feeling to this day.

The crowd wants to get behind a team who wins. Lyon (Fem) fans have always cared about the football more than the social gathering at games. When Lyon had those wins, the football was a given, and the players didn't have to ask for people to show up. Fans showed up because winning was almost a guarantee.

2020-2021; Fall 2022 took those guarantees away.

It's not to say Lyon isn't trying to rebuild that trust. They are. And I think Kang's idea of building a midsize stadium (10-15k) is the right one. But again there are logistics behind it. Groupama is not the easiest stadium to get to, and the scheduling, especially of the women's games, makes it even more complicated as well. A majority of Lyon fans are 18+ and therefore have actual responsibilities, such as their education or jobs. A 9pm game on a Sunday night is going to affect attendance for fans who work full time. A novel concept for some, but that is the truth. People will (should?) choose to pay bills over attending a game. Though maybe there is a correlation between football social gatherings and unemployment rates.

So yeah, fan attendance is higher in other leagues, and there's reasons for that, amongst which are scheduling (which can be changed by the FFF), and success of the men's teams (in the hands of the Sports Gods).

Hegerberg's comments were annoying and, if I am frank, a little offensive to Lyon. She made it seem like Lyon is deliberately being passive about her contract situation rather than the club having its hands tied due to John Textor's lax definition of management.

Is Lyon's recruitment going to be really, really painful as long as the playoffs exist? Is Lyon's crowd attendance going to suffer while the men have won one (1) game in 12 attempts?

Yes.

It's really, really hard to predict what will happen with the 2024 contracts because these players will only play for UWCL teams. For the first time since 2006, Lyon doesn't know if they will be one.

#all good love stories start in the rain #michele kang #John textor