‘He just sat there like a lap dog’ – Lyon owner John Textor chastises LFP president Vincent Labrune and ‘bully’ PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi | OneFootball

Lyon owner John Textor has taken the gloves off and chastised Vincent Labrune regarding his role as LFP – Ligue 1’s governing body – president during the French football TV rights bidding process for the 2024-29 cycle. In an interview with RMC Sport, the American businessman lamented what he perceived as an outright submission from Labrune to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who also owns other leading attributions within world football. “I was not really focused on the dominance of this one man on the European Club Association, on the Executive Committee of the UEFA“, said Textor.

The latter said he was completely shocked during a July meeting of Ligue 1 clubs’ presidents regarding TV rights to see Labrune barely taking part. “He should have been running the meeting. He barely opened his mouth. Nasser sat there and ran the meeting.” Textor believes Al-Khelaifi should not have done so as he’s also the chairman of beIN Media Group. “He was a proponent of his own television network taking over the television for the league.“

Textor, who has previous with Al-Khelaifi, recalls how the latter would “bark“, “intimidate” and “bully” anybody who would raise an alternate idea during the meeting. “The president of our league [Labrune] just sat there like a lap dog, didn’t say anything.” The Eagle Football chief said to RMC Sport he was not aware that Ligue 1 was “so incredibly dominated” by Al-Khelaifi, whose influence also extends, according to Textor, to the DNCG – the financial watchdog that handed Lyon a transfer ban and a provisional Ligue 2 relegation.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval