Events in the world of football often impact across club lines and that could be the case with the shocking developments around Lyon.
Lyon and Crystal Palace are linked together right now by the fact both are owned to varying degrees by John Textor – American tycoon and owner of Eagle Football Holdings.
Textor is the lead shareholder at Selhurst Park with a 45 per cent share which he seemingly intends to sell in the coming weeks and months.
- John Textor – 45 per cent
- Dave Blitzer – 18 per cent
- Josh Harris – 18 per cent
- Steve Parish – 10 per cent
- Robert Franco – 5 per cent
The American had been interested in purchasing Everton after selling his Crystal Palace shares, but he missed out on this and is now considering his options.
Now, his attention has no doubt been diverted to France as Lyon suffered a terrible punishment.
What has happened to Lyon?
As chaotic things are right now within Selhurst Park as the ownership has an uncertain future – things at Lyon are much worse.
Amid severe financial difficulties, one of France’s biggest clubs Olympique Lyon has been ‘provisionally relegated’ from Ligue 1.
This comes after Lyon racked up £500m in debt – with a transfer ban also being tacked onto the list of punishments.
According to talkSPORT, Lyon was due to appear before France’s financial football watchdog, the DNCG, on Friday.
Here, the club had a plan to convince the DNCG that they would be in a better financial position come the end of the season, as outlined by L’Equipe, but now they have been hit with punishments.
In order to escape these punishments and avoid relegation, Lyon needs circa £91m in revenue.
How will this affect Crystal Palace and John Textor?
With Textor involved, there is a chance that the Lyon problems will have slight impacts on Crystal Palace.
Such troubles financially at Lyon could actually prompt Textor into selling his Eagles shares quicker in order to avoid Lyon going completely bust.
This could please the two Crystal Palace fans who have submitted a bid to buy Textor’s 45 per cent.
This could create desperation for funds which could mean these shares are sold cheaper than they are worth.
Outside of the boardroom, Lyon will probably need to sell quite a few players over the coming months and this could see Crystal Palace swoop for Rayan Cherki who was a target in the summer.
