Why Lyon fans don't like John Textor as American plots Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County takeover | OneFootball

Polarising figure John Textor is plotting a move to take over at either Sheffield Wednesday or Derby County.

John Textor is a polarising figure across the modern footballing landscape.

Under his Eagle Football Group, the American businessman's portfolio of clubs includes French giants Olympique Lyonnais, Brazilian outfit Botafogo, and Belgian club RWDM Brussels.

He also previously held a 43% stake in Crystal Palace, which he sold over the summer for £190 million following a tangle between Palace, UEFA and Nottingham Forest over the Eagles' participation in European competition this season.

Textor, who has been widely reported as interested in getting back involved with English football, recently had a bid for Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers turned down.

Reports in recent weeks have suggested that multiple second-tier clubs feature on his shortlist, with Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday both mentioned by Alan Nixon as potential targets as he looks to get back into the English game.

However, after both have faced turbulent periods off the pitch, the prospect of joining his network of clubs could be a big concern for Owls and Rams supporters.

John Textor's controversial time at Lyon

After winning Ligue 1 seven times in a row, Lyon's last title in 2008 marked the end of their domestic dominance. The years since have involved consistent attempts to stay behind Paris Saint-Germain as France's second force, with Marseille, Lille and Monaco often competing for that position.

Textor entered the landscape by securing his stakes in Crystal Palace, Botafogo and RWDM Brussels between 2021 and 2022, before he purchased an initial 66.5% stake in Lyon in June 2022. By December, Eagle Football had secured a 77.49% share of the club. At this point, Textor assumed presidential duties from the highly regarded Jean-Michel Aulas, who had run the club for more than three decades, remaining an influential figure among supporters.

Lyon finished seventh in 2022/23; however, things quickly deteriorated in Textor's first full year. After a run that left the club bottom of Ligue 1 with seven points from 12 matches, manager Fabio Grosso lost his job. Pierre Sage would oversee a recovery and subsequent sixth-place finish. However, he would lose his job earlier this year to be replaced by Paulo Fonseca.

Away from the pitch, matters were more serious. In October 2024, Eagle Football's financial accounts confirmed debts of £422 million. This triggered a provisional relegation to Ligue 2 by the DNCG, French football's financial watchdog.

This ruling was widely covered in France, sparking months of tension surrounding the club. Over the summer, Lyon were reinstated as a top-flight club following an appeal. This was aided by the high-profile sales of Rayan Cherki and much-adored academy graduate, Maxence Caqueret, who joined Como in January, alongside the departures of high earners Alexandre Lacazette and Anthony Lopes.

Nine of the club's supporter groups also signed a statement condemning the sacking of Sage in January, further directing anger at the club's ownership, with the ending reading that "it must serve as a wake-up call if we do not want our club to become an empty shell, devoid of soul and values".

Complications also extended further than the south of France, with UEFA confirming that Crystal Palace would be unable to compete in the Europa League alongside Lyon due to multi-club ownership rules, leading to Palace's demotion to the Conference League. Textor would sell his shares in the Premier League side, though Nottingham Forest would replace them in the competition.

As Lyon's Ligue 1 future was confirmed over the summer, Textor would step down from his leadership role at the club, with Michele Kang taking over. He remains the owner of the club. As of now, Lyon sit seventh in Ligue 1, with 20 points on the board after 12 matches.

Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County need to avoid the multi-club trap

If anything, the controversies of Textor highlight an issue that is becoming more and more prevalent in modern football: multi-club ownership. Not all are as in your face as the Red Bull model, but there is a growing problem across the game, and it is something that Sheffield Wednesday and Derby fans will be desperate to avoid.

Lyon's fellow Ligue 1 side Strasbourg - coached by ex-Hull City boss Liam Rosenior - have continued to make headlines on and off the pitch this season, for completely polar opposite reasons.

On it, Strasbourg are flying, with 22 points in 12 matches, leaving them sitting in fourth. However, supporters continue to protest against the very ownership structure that has allowed the club to thrive on the field.

Owned by Todd Boehly's BlueCo consortium, Strasbourg sit alongside Chelsea as the second club in the group.

And the word "second" is extremely important here. Because the simple fact of the matter is that no matter what were to happen, the Blue and Whites will always play second fiddle to the more mighty sister club from West London. As seen with the likes of Andrey Santos, Mamadou Sarr, Ben Chilwell, and Diego Moreira, the ownership structure has allowed the club to bring in a level of talent unattainable without the Chelsea links. However, there will always be a ceiling.

This isn't the Red Bull group, where RB Leipzig, RB Salzburg, New York Red Bulls and more in Brazil and Japan were founded with the idea of a talent conveyor belt being in place, where players simply flow from one club to another. This is a club with almost 100 years of history that is treated like a toy under the multi-club scheme.

And while Red Bull may have a proven track record when it comes to talent development, the corporate ownership trend still proves controversial, with their flagship club in Leipzig officially named "Rasenballsport" (lawn-ball sport) to circumvent the rules surrounding football sponsorship in Germany. There are countless examples of similar situations across the global game, and the fact of the matter is that there will always be a hierarchy in these groups.

Sheffield Wednesday fans are undoubtedly incredibly thankful to have escaped the grip of Dejphon Chansiri, while Derby themselves have experienced what it is like to see their club on the brink.

However, for two huge names in English football terms, falling into a multi-club scheme cannot be the way forward, and will be something that both sets of supporters will want to avoid at all costs when it comes to the future of their clubs.