Lyon boss John Texter slams Ligue 1 club president, calls Paris Saint-Germain a “lapdog”

Lyon's American owner John Texter was harshly critical of Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Ligue 1 president Vincent Labrun in an interview with French radio station RMC on Monday.

In addition to taking a dig at Al-Khelaifi's position, Texter also called Rabrun a “lapdog” of PSG to highlight the relationship between Rabrun and Al-Khelaifi, who He is also the head of BeIn Sport Media Group.

Texter, who is also a major shareholder in Crystal Palace, Botafogo and Molenbeek, said the link between the two was unacceptable because it would create a conflict of interest.

“I was not aware of the institutional protection. I was not really paying attention to the dominance of this man (Al-Khelaifi) in the European Club Association and the UEFA executive committee,” Texter told the former PSG and France Midfielder Jerome Rothen hosts his own radio show at RMC.

“I was absolutely shocked to attend a meeting of the (Ligue 1) presidents in July to discuss viable alternatives to the TV rights deal, and the league president (Labrun) who was supposed to be chairing the meeting could barely open his mouth as Nasser sat there. Chairing the meeting, he shouldn’t even be in the meeting because he is a stakeholder who has his own TV channel,” Textor continued.

“Whenever someone came up with an alternative idea, Nasser would yell at them, intimidate and bully them. And the president of our union sat there like a lapdog and said nothing.”

ESPN received a statement from PSG late Monday rejecting Texter's comments and defending the club and Ligue 1.

The club said: “It is a pity that you can't buy class and elegance as it would have allowed Mr. Dexter to avoid making a mockery of himself through rude and excessive behavior towards our president, our institution and our fans.” It would be better for him to return to Earth, and to France, to understand this league that we love so much.”

The feud between Textor and Al-Khelaifi has been ongoing since this summer. They have never seen eye to eye since he bought Lyon in June 2022 and highlighted the conflict of interest posed by Al-Khelaifi as head of BeIn Sport.

“So, no, I had no idea that the league was so unbelievably dominated by this guy (Al-Khelaifi),” Texter said. “I don't know, I think about the impact PSG has had on the league and even the DNCG (France's FFP regulator).”

Ligue 1 also issued a statement on Monday in response to Texter's comments, which read in part: “We were surprised to see John Texter's comments. Even more surprised because (we) had a very cordial discussion this afternoon. “

Paris Saint-Germain defeated Lyon 2-1 in the 2024 Coupe de France final, Kylian Mbappe's last game for the Parisian club before moving to Real Madrid.