Visceral defender of his club and compulsive user of social networks, Jean-Michel Aulas distinguished himself by his chiseled formulas and other tweets during his three decades at the head of OL, multiplying the outings to parry blows or give them, sometimes with humor.
ASSE and PlaystationAt the end of September 2010, after the 1-0 defeat in the 100th derby against Saint-Étienne, Aulas tried to calm the fans down. “We lost against Saint-Étienne for the first time in sixteen years. We play in the Champions League while the Stéphanois dispute it on ” Playstation ”, he loose in front of the ultras who demand the departure of Claude Puel. “You get influenced by the media,” he says, and shouts to the crowd, “Who wants to take my place?”
Controversy with L’ÉquipeIn October 2010, Aulas railed against the front page of the sports daily L’Équipe, “Drôle de drame”, relating Captain Cris’ criticism of coach Claude Puel. He then invites himself to a press conference after a match at Arles-Avignon (1-1) and attacks the author of the article: “I wanted to tell him eye to eye that he is deceived, (…) that he says he has solid information, but that it is false all along the line. (…) I find the process cowardly, iniquitous, you are out of ethics”, accuses the leader before leaving the room, calling the journalist “asshole”, without answering a single question.
Lyon face the “Rosbifs” Before facing the English club Tottenham in the round of 16 of the Europa League, in February 2013, Aulas salivates in front of this poster with the “flavor of the Champions League”. “It can allow OL to pursue a path and it will be so great that I can’t imagine for a moment that we will let go of the piece in the face of these ”Rosbifs””, he declared on Radio Scoop, an important Lyon station. Spurs coach André Villas-Boas politely replies: “This way of chambering shows that OL are also very motivated to take up Thursday’s challenge and qualify”. Lyon will eventually be taken out by the Londoners.
Zlatannerie “I trace my path, sure of my orientations, of my ethics. We are not in a negative but positive spiral, it is still necessary that the financial power does not come to burden the lucidity of people who practice the same sport as the others”. At the end of the 2014-15 season, Aulas did not digest the reduction of the suspension – from four matches to three – for insults granted to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the striker of Paris SG, property of the sovereign fund QSI and competitor of the OL for the title.
“Merry Christmas” On December 24, 2017, Aulas split on Twitter with a spade against the president of Olympique de Marseille Jacques-Henri Eyraud, former president of the Paris Turf Group, who pinned the activism of the Lyonnais with French arbitration. “Just to try to excuse ”JHE” for his borderline remarks, OL and especially for the French referees, tell him that in our French football the referees are professional and honest. The habit of being close to horse betting may have disoriented JHE? Merry Christmas,” writes Aulas.
Plague and choleraDo you prefer the president of PSG Nasser Al-Khelaïfi or the Guingampais Bertrand Desplat?, is it asked to the boss of OL, guest in January 2018 of the channel L’Équipe. “Choosing between the plague and cholera is difficult,” he replies with a smile. The “joke”, launched in a “humorous” program according to Aulas, will earn him a passage in the disciplinary committee, without consequence.
Uncomfortable statementIn January 2018, Aulas reacted on Twitter to an article claiming that Toulouse coach Pascal Dupraz was “hallucinating” about the effect of Aulas “on the referees”. “Pascal Dupraz is the hospital that doesn’t give a damn about charity, minus the skill. Be nice Mr. Dupraz, pull yourself together, control yourself, you will have less discomfort and more results”. The coach, victim of a heart attack in 2001, suffered at least two illnesses when he was coaching Téfécé.
White season If the new coronavirus epidemic continues to disrupt the Championship, “the most logical thing would then be to say: ”We cancel everything and we start again from the situation at the start of the season””. In March 2020, Aulas alienated everyone with this proposal made to the daily Le Monde. Declaring a “white season” would indeed allow OL, away from European places ten days from the end, to qualify for the next Champions League in respect of their second place acquired the previous season. The president of the French Football Federation Noël Le Graët, yet close to “JMA”, denounces the controversy. “I find it quite ridiculous, stupid, clumsy and not suited to what is happening today.”
