Yahoo Sports PSG threaten Lyon’s owner John Textor with legal action over ‘defamatory and damaging comments’
In a letter seen by RMC Sport, Paris Saint-Germain via their general secretary Victoriano Melero have threatened Olympique Lyonnais’s owner John Textor with legal action after a series of public statements where he has either directly or indirectly criticised the French champions.
In an interview with the Brazilian outlet Globo, Textor (who also owns the Brazilian club Botafogo) stated that he wanted to “kick [PSG’s] ass.” However, he noted that there would be some difficulties in achieving this goal due to the current financial disparity between Lyon and the capital club.
Textor stated, “We have to compete with Qatar in France. I’m in competition with a country, not an owner. A model of unbridled spending, without restrictions […] I have to contend with that as an owner of one of the great clubs in France. […] Now that great club can’t compete for anything other than second place.”
This was one of the many statements from the Lyon owner that PSG took exception to in their letter, with the club replying, “You mention that you are competing against a country […] ignoring the fact that a significant part of our club is today owned by the American investors Arctos, coming, as we thought you knew, from the United States.”
Conflict over TV rights
PSG were also frustrated by a press release that Textor had sent on the eve of the television rights being decided where he alleged that he was “concerned about the obvious conflicts of interest in France”.
The Lyon owner also strongly criticised the winning bid from the UK broadcaster DAZN and Qatari-based beIN Sports in the press release declaring that “signing a long-term deal with traditional broadcasting models is looking towards the past, we should be turning to the future.”
Instead, Lyon and its owner preferred the alternative choice, the LFP’s new model of a channel 100% owned by the league, arguing that it was “an opportunity to innovate and build a platform that meets the expectations of our consumers today and tomorrow.”
However, this model provided no financial guarantees to clubs, unlike the more traditional DAZN-beIN offer, a point that PSG were quick to address: “You are lecturing other French clubs by telling them not to worry about the lack of guaranteed income, while privately asking us to make advance payments for the transfer of Bradley Barcola (signed by PSG from Lyon in 2023) to benefit your own transfer window.”
The letter finally ended with a warning to Textor, “If you continue your defamatory and damaging comments, we will be forced to add you to our growing number of legal actions in Brazil with an additional procedure in France.”
