A much-maligned figure at the Stade Gerland, and subsequently with local rivals Saint-Etienne, Perrin still enjoyed more tangible success in one season with OL than Claude Puel has in the subsequent three.
If the end to Perrin’s reign was a rather grubby, drawn out matter that lasted weeks rather than simply days, the slow death of the Puel era is stalling to an even greater degree. There have been months of whispers related to the former Lille boss’ future, dating back to the autumn of 2009, when a lengthy winless streak in the league effectively prevented OL making a serious title push last season.
A position in the Champions League semi-finals surely saved the skin of the Castres-born coach, whose tenure in the Rhone Valley finally seems to be coming to an end.
On Friday, an interview with club president Jean-Michel Aulas was published suggesting with some strength that Puel’s contract will not be extended beyond its end date of 2012, and also hinting that the club’s general manager could depart in the summer; a fact that Puel would not dismiss during a press conference later that same day.
The timing of these revelations was hardly ideal as Sunday brought with it arguably the club’s most vital match of the season to date; an encounter against Championnat leaders Lille away from home.
What transpired at the Stade Lille-Metropole was a match that rather captured Puel’s tenure in charge of OL perfectly. His side did the bare minimum, grabbing a 1-1 draw, which is enough to keep them in the title race but not enough to really push them to the fore of the battle.
There were chances for Lyon to win the match in its latter stages, with Jeremy Toulalan, Yoann Gourcuff and Jimmy Briand all being denied by some fine goalkeeping from Mickael Landreau.
Evidently this was enough to seduce Aulas into some more supportive comments about his general. “I confirm that Claude is a man of great quality,” he said to Canal+. “Claude showed against Lille that he has the squad well in hand.”
Such positive backing was also given to Perrin in the weeks before his ultimate demise, which came by way of ‘mutual’ consent.
Sunday’s performance rather captured the ‘nearly’ nature of Puel’s role in charge of les Gones. Under his stewardship, Lyon have rarely been completely out of the title hunt, but all too often they’ve occupied only the periphery, finishing six points behind Olympique de Marseille having sneaked into third the season previous.
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Olympique Lyonnais Boss Claude Puel In Limbo After Lille Draw