He was the last of the Mohicans. After Louis Nicollin, Jean-Louis Triaud, Michel Seydoux, Carlo Molinari, Bernard Tapie and Gervais Martel, the last great president of a French club is leaving.
Jean-Michel Aulas bade farewell to Olympique Lyonnais on Saturday, against Reims, during the 37th day of Ligue 1. If he remains honorary president of OL, the leader will no longer have any influence on sporting decisions and the financial management of his club.
Groupama Stadium’s tribute was worthy of his thirty-six years at the head of the Rhone team: tifos bearing his effigy, guard of honor, songs to cheer him, but also an invitation in the bend of the Bad Gones in order to experience this last highlight as closely as possible. With tears in his eyes, Jean-Michel Aulas savored these moments and measured how his popularity rating remained intact, despite the more delicate last years at the head of OL. Alongside Paul Bocuse and the Lumière brothers, he is undeniably one of the outstanding figures of the city of Lyon.
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Aulas had Bernard Tapie as a model and chose to follow him in some of his statements and provocations, while staying the course to defend the OL institution. A long-time visionary, the businessman will have led his team from the second division in the 1980s to total hegemony in Ligue 1 in the 2000s. Part of Football Manager, but in reality. Seven titles in a row: even QSI-era PSG have never done so well. This is to say the feat that should remain for a while in the pages of French football.
By choosing to finance his stadium himself and to equip himself with high-level training facilities, the Rhone leader has taken a very good turn in modern football. While some supporters will regret that he invested more in OL Vallée to create a surf park or a bowling alley rather than in the transfer window, Aulas today leaves a stable club in good financial health.
And, in addition to growing his men’s team, President Aulas has also been able to give a real place to women’s football in France and Europe. His OL led by Eugénie Le Sommer and Amandine Henry is one of the most dominant teams in history. With sixteen French championship titles, ten French Cups won and eight Champions Leagues won, her legacy is undeniable in this aspect.
To measure the aura of a personality when it bows out, it suffices to see the tributes paid to it. Apart from an extremely clumsy Hatem Ben Arfa, all words are worthy of the journey and the achievements made by Jean-Michel Aulas. “He’s always been straight with me,” Karim Benzema said. From time to time, we talk on the phone, I respect him enormously. He remains the best president we have had in France. I wish him a good retirement and I will stay in contact with him. “For her part, Wendie Renard, captain of OL and Les Bleues, also had vibrant words: “At times, his image could be negative. But we, collectively, we know what he has done for us, what he is, we know what he will always be. He will have my respect until my last breath. »
