Jean-Michel Aulas, the president of Lyon, who will have tried everything for the Ligue 1 season to resume, puts forward a new idea: organize a friendly tournament in July between PSG, Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Lille, who gave their okay, he says. He submitted this idea to the authorities. He reveals it in a long-term interview where in a posed way, he settles his accounts.
This Wednesday, you wrote to the Minister of Sports to remind her that Ligue 1 could end after August 3, contrary to the information it would have received. Do you think he was lied to?
JEAN-MICHEL AULAS. Let's not go that far. It has not been given the right consonance with respect to this pivotal date of August 3. I heard it in the Senate the day before yesterday: she continues to think that August 3 was a deadline for competitions to take place in France. Obviously, this played a role in his decision. We stopped too early. I was very sensitive to the fact that the UEFA president wrote to me: August 3 was not a deadline. There are no ambiguities. I felt on the side of the League in particular that we could say that there was interpretation. No there is not. If there was one, it's the wrong one. It was said very clearly that we could finish the championships in August, hence my proposal for the playoffs which made it possible to reduce the number of days while remaining in the UEFA definition of "sporting merit". I am disappointed: we have put ourselves in a limiting position vis-à-vis the UEFA which had given directives and we have taken away a certain number of chances from the clubs which would have finished the championship better. There is a loss of luck that strikes many clubs.
You write that "one day next, the clubs, which will have to announce on June 30 a considerable deficit of several hundreds of millions of euros, will want to look for culprits". Who are they ?
I read in " Le Parisien" and in "L'Equipe" that a certain number of club presidents boasted of having wanted to stop the championship because they would have been interested. I tell myself that when we make an exact assessment of this judgment, we will have to try to find out what really happened. Often after the fact, people talk.
Do you hold it against someone?
I have a grudge against the Professional Football League institution. She has shown herself during this crisis below minimum responsibility. The dyarchy did not manage the crisis well.
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Is it a problem of functioning or of the people in place, in this case Nathalie Boy de la Tour, the president, and Didier Quillot, the executive director general?
Obviously both. I asked the minister in writing that we focus very quickly on the governance of professional football. She agrees in principle, not in the law currently being debated but after. The Federation, to whom I have spoken, agrees too. She works with us to build a project. If the crisis and the fact that it has been very badly managed lead at least to a reflection in terms of governance of the League and the professional sector, we will have gained a lot.
Does the shutdown of Ligue 1 cause a rage inside you?
No. I am very serene, very calm but determined. I am deeply convinced that something happened that did not serve the clubs and French football as a whole. It is a shame not to give PSG and OL the means to be in good shape to compete in the final stages of the European Cups in August. As such, I have wishes to formulate. I grabbed the Minister of Sports yesterday (Editor's note: Wednesday) and this morning (Thursday) .
What is your project ?
I have one last suggestion: allow us to train on June 2 for those who wish and start the friendly matches in July. If the scientific council or statistics of the pandemic on June 15 do not allow it, we will reform this decision. But it is essential that French clubs can start playing behind closed doors in early July, like their European competitors. If the League does not want, it will be necessary to ask the question of why it does not want. At least four clubs must be allowed to play, the three who play the National Cup finals, Paris, Saint-Etienne and Lyon. I add Lille, which is interested in a role of partner. These four clubs are candidates to play in July. There will be others, Nantes is interested. We could demonstrate that we are not dumber than the others. And above all that we are not penalized. I do not see the interest of the government in penalizing these clubs. The pandemic is receding everywhere, perhaps even that it is disappearing. The economic catastrophe for French football, I maintain my figures, amounted to between 600 and 800 million euros on June 30.
What does the Ministry of Sports tell you?
I don't have the official answer yet. I have an element of answer on the side of Matignon which seems to say: it is studied. This is studied because the proposal I am making makes sense.
Why are you the only one who wants to resume, at least in the media?
At the time, the decision seemed to satisfy a number of clubs. Today, when everyone does the accounting, clubs are now more concerned with attacking the state over economic loss. Seeing that all the different and competing nations of France - Germany, Spain, Italy and soon England - resume, I think I will soon not be the only one. The optimistic version is that they trusted the one who could lead the fight because I am a free man. I led the fight a few years ago from the introduction of clubs on the stock exchange against the government and I won my case. Later, I led the fight to privatize the stadiums for Euro 2016 by building the Groupama Stadium. I led the fight for women's football before everyone else. It culminated in the World Cup in France in a private stadium.
If some took advantage of the stop to settle on the back of Lyon and exclude it from a European qualification, is this a sign that you are still scared or rather that you no longer weigh?
It would be awkward for me to answer the question. If that were the case, there would be a complaint filed for agreement. It's something I can't imagine. If it suits some to think that I no longer have the image or the role that I played before ... Last September, for the presidency of the college of Ligue 1, I was not a candidate, I was asked, i was a candidate the day before for the next day and i was elected very widely. If it pleases a number to think they are more important than they are, I don't mind. My fights have not been too bad for me.
Jean-Michel #Aulas very worried about the transfer window @ JM_Aulas #Transferts
(Foot Mercato: https://t.co/bJePEBj3nv) pic.twitter.com/eXbNPSUYmr
Did Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, the president of PSG, become during this crisis the savior of French football as some present it?
He was very present. I discovered a Nasser who wanted during this crisis absolutely to play a role of solidarity. No savior because we are not yet. On the contrary, we are in the hole. He made fantastic efforts of solidarity, of presence in all the meetings. He tried to find solutions at his level. I would not interpret the decision of the League to give it a role with presidents with broadcasters because everything has been said. But he did his best to help French football. I campaign for Paris, Lyon, Lille and Saint-Etienne to have the right to play friendly matches. PSG brings a deposit and considerable resources to French football to try to develop. They are, like Lyon, the biggest victims of the sudden stop of the championship. For Lyon, we will have lost nearly 100 million euros in turnover. I fear that for PSG it will be double.
It is common knowledge that you defend the interests of your club better than anyone: would you have waged this fight for recovery if you had been second on day 28, the one chosen to establish the final ranking?
I would have done the exact same thing. It is always easy to transform a free man who defends the general interest into an interested man, especially when he has been very successful in his life. I found an extremely strong argument: women's football, where Olympique Lyonnais was first when the championship stopped. Paris was 2nd at 3 points. The Federation, at first, had not awarded a title. Secondly, as the League did differently, the Federation discussed the classification. It has been proposed that OL be crowned champion. During the vote, it is verifiable, I abstained during the Comex. I answered your question in advance.