He was put aside.
Denigrated.
Many Ligue 1 presidents were tired of his outings, exhausted by his controversies, sometimes his bad faith.
Jean-Michel Aulas was excluded from major decisions, in particular that of stopping the championship, in the spring of 2020. With as a backdrop, an anti-Aulas front.
Some welcomed his loss of influence.
In September, Jean-Pierre Caillot, the president of Reims, succeeded him at the head of the Ligue 1 College. And JMA no longer sits on the board of directors of the LFP.
The terrible financial crisis that is currently affecting French football reminds us to what extent JMA, and its model, cannot be relegated to the background.
Especially since sportingly, things are going pretty well.
This year, Lyon are playing for the title.
“OL and its president have had the most relevant strategy in French football over the past 20-30 years.
They carried the construction of a stadium.
Mr. Aulas had this audacity, this voluntarism to leave a model extremely dependent on television receipts and transfers ”, explains Christophe Lepetit, in charge of economic studies at the Center of Law and Economy of Sport of Limoges (CDES).
So beware, empty stadiums, TV rights at half mast, OL are also enduring the current crisis with full force.
Lyon suffered a net loss of 50.6 million euros over the last six months of 2020. And that will not get better during the first half of 2021. “The crisis is affecting OL hard, worried a lot.
Obviously that challenges and weakens their economic model.
But OL are better equipped than the others to face it, continues Lepetit.
Jean-Michel Aulas had a visionary side which is bearing fruit today.
OL are more resilient and tomorrow will be more resilient in the face of the crisis.
"
The arrival of Labrune at the head of the LFP has helped him
"The model set up by Jean-Michel Aulas in Lyon is the benchmark model today in France, no one can dispute it," says Vincent Labrune, president of the LFP since September.
But we must bear in mind, today, that the health crisis we are going through is undermining even this model, the reference model.
OL, like the smallest budget in Ligue 1, is hit hard and probably even in much larger proportions.
"
OL are suffering, like the others, but their president is more listened to.
Even if the reservations remain numerous among some Ligue 1 presidents with regard to him.
His proposal, in mid-October in our columns - "We need a Spotify football or a Deezer football" - has been widely commented and relayed.
JMA posed the debate.
He was also put back in the game by Vincent Labrune.
The two men appreciate each other and exchange very regularly.
At the beginning of February, Aulas was part of the steering committee, created by Labrune, to dissect offers for TV rights after the Mediapro fiasco.
He is also acting directly alongside the LFP in recent days (which he has criticized so much in 2020), to discuss with the State the financial aid granted to clubs.
Less frantic on social networks
“At a time when professional football is going through the biggest crisis in its history, Jean-Michel Aulas is one of the examples of the rediscovered unity of French football since this fall, continues Vincent Labrune.
He is competent, he is concerned, he is proactive, he works a lot on his files and it is a real asset in the rather complex discussions that we can lead, both for TV rights and during negotiations with the State. since two weeks.
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JMA, Le Graët's support for the election to the presidency of the FFF, has also been taking care of its communication since last summer.
He talks less, more to the point, lets himself be drawn into series of sterile tweets less.
And he serves as an example.
Some Ligue 1 investors, including representatives of the Nîmes management team, have visited its stadium in recent weeks.
“He is a force for proposal.
In the vast majority of cases, his proposals are interesting and he has the merit of putting the subjects on the table.
He is not afraid to go into battle.
He has a vision, a very fine knowledge of football and its challenges which make him someone of great value on these subjects, ”concludes Lepetit.