- FootBiz
- Posts
- FootBiz newsletter #138: Deposed from the group he founded, is this the end for John Textor?
FootBiz newsletter #138: Deposed from the group he founded, is this the end for John Textor?
One manoeuvre too many for the 'Cowboy' who dreamed too big
Ed Malyon & Matt Hughes
January 30, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes
“Well if it was the end then what would you write about in your dumb newsletter?”
An interesting question posed by one ally of John Textor, the deposed chairman of Eagle Football Group whose future in football looks increasingly unclear.
But while we have time to work out what topics there will be for future editions of FootBiz, Textor’s clock is ticking after a failed manoeuvre saw him ousted as a director of Eagle Football, the vehicle he created with grand ambitions of joining Benfica (the Eagles), Crystal Palace (the Eagles) and a stable of global brands beyond.
We aren’t going to write the obituary of Eagle Football yet, as the business under that name still survives, but Textor has now finally lost control and influence after he tried a coup at board level amid missed payments to Ares Management, the lender he owed $500m that had already given him extended grace as the entire scheme unravelled over the past 12 months or so.
That he has continued to look at buying more clubs in that period while his empire crumbled speaks to the mindset of the man.
Indeed, Ares could have ended things for Textor last summer when Lyon were in the dock and facing relegation to the French second tier, a move that would likely have bankrupted the group. Only by removing Textor as chairman, empowering Michele Kang and bowing down to Ares did Textor’s group remain intact by the skin of their teeth (oh, and by injecting in another €100m).
Deposed as chair, Textor managed to stay on as a director of the larger group and briefly, sheepishly decided to focus on Botafogo once again given the mess in Belgium (“RWDM in dire straits”), his forced exit from Crystal Palace and persona non grata status in Lyon.
Lo and behold, the same familiar issues began to crop up in Brazil too. Botafogo are now under a FIFA transfer ban for the next three windows after failing to pay Atlanta United for Thiago Almada (a player that has since moved clubs twice) and there are increasing questions about the health of the club’s finances.
As ever, though, whether it’s losing a big game or being pushed out of Palace or his club(s) being relegated, it’s never John’s fault…
"The recent transfer ban imposed on Botafogo was directly caused by Ms. Kang's refusal to make significant payments to Botafogo, recorded in transfers totalling over €104 million, and also partly by Ares Management's efforts to block a US$50 million contribution to the club,” Textor said in a letter to Brazilian media this week.
“This resulted in a transfer ban from FIFA. And it should be noted that Kang's organization, Kynisca, was recently announced by FIFA as a sponsor of the Women's Champions Cup, which has been questioned as a possible conflict of interest.”
(Nice plug, John, we mentioned that in Monday’s newsletter.)
“Ms. Kang presented her plan to save OL [Lyon] from relegation to the full board of Eagle Football. She would represent Eagle as the savior of the club's leadership. Simultaneously, according to the date of the parallel agreement, she gave control of Eagle Football's largest asset to herself and Ares. Then she worked tirelessly with this secret board of directors, without the knowledge of the true club board, to ensure that Eagle Football and its family of clubs failed,” Textor concluded.
“Textor Fuck You” reads one banner in Lyon
Lots of accusations, as ever, but little in the way of evidence. Little in the way of money to repay the hundreds of millions he took on in debt, either. Was that also Kang’s fault? And Ares aren’t the only investors unhappy with John for not paying his debts.
Local reports in France (in this case, RMC Sport) claim that Textor tried to regain control of Lyon ahead of the General Assembly on Wednesday by dismissing two of its directors, Heman Tseayo and Stephen Welch.
Textor’s plan, seemingly, was to render their votes invalid and thus give him a chance to remove the existing board, Kang, and the newly appointed general secretary Michael Gerlinger, who has been responsible for getting the Ligue 1 club’s accounts in order.
L’Equipe reported that Ares blocked the manoeuvre, warned Textor his actions were illegal and then worked with Kang to oust the former chairman.
While Textor’s ouster would usually mean that he no longer had control at any of his portfolio of clubs, there are some legal protections currently in place in Brazil that mean he is still, technically, in charge at Botafogo. If he still has the confidence of the board then he is safe for the time being, though one ruling from a Rio de Janeiro judge would end Textor’s Eagle dream as it was once envisioned.
In the end, cases like Textor’s just underline how the business of football has outgrown its regulatory frameworks. The French DNCG faces criticism but it did, as a regulator, at least slow down the runaway train before it could go off the rails fully and hurt more innocent bystanders.
Textor played up to his “cowboy” moniker handed down by Nasser al-Khelaifi
Football is a sport that has grown beyond all recognition into a huge economy in its own right, but clubs are community institutions and should be protected from those seeking solely to play financial games. Lyon, a club losing €200m per year under his management, spent €91m on players on behalf of Botafogo, per L’Equipe. Those players were never registered to Lyon or intended to play for Lyon.
He bought OL for €800m and, in just a few short years, came within moments of driving the club into the dirt last summer.
As Matt Slater put it so succinctly last month; “Lyon, the most valuable club he owns, lost €200m last season. He sold their best players, their indoor arena, half of their women’s team & a US subsidiary… to make them worse & poorer.”
Yeah, pretty much.
In Belgium, RWDM were relegated, he changed their name, changed it back and eventually just abandoned the club. They are back to square one, but that is at least a better situation than he leaves Lyon in, or Palace, who he cost a place in the Europa League for the first time in their history with his financial games.
The one success story to come out of Eagle was the trophies that were won by Botafogo, but it appears increasingly likely that was done by some very questionable overspending and even in Brazil they have now tired of the broken promises and the explanations that don’t add up.
This is not what football is supposed to be, but with the constant puffing up of an IPO and bombastic claims of future achievements, this was exactly what Eagle Football was supposed to be. In his mind, at least.
This is unlikely to be the last we see of John Textor, given the size of his ambition (and his mouth) but it is hard to see how he bounces back from this. Rumours are he’s working with a distressed asset fund to try and take Botafogo off Eagles’ hands. We hope not.
That said, it would at least give us something to write about in our dumb newsletter.
