Lyon owner John Textor on Thursday pulled his weight behind manager Paulo Fonseca after the Portuguese was handed a nine-month ban for confronting a referee during their Ligue 1 match on Sunday, Afrosport reports.
Fonseca was sanctioned by the French League’s disciplinary commission on Wednesday—his 52nd birthday—about four weeks after replacing the sacked Pierre Sage.
The former AC Milan boss was shown a red card for confronting referee Benoit Millot during Lyon’s 2-1 win over Brest last weekend, where he touched heads with the match official.
Fonseca has been banned from the dugout and the referee’s changing room until November. He was also banned from entering his team’s changing room until mid-September.
Textor, meanwhile, debunked any notion of a possible sacking of the Portuguese manager, adding that he is the “right man for Lyon”.
“Happy Birthday Paulo! I stand with you today and always,” Textor wrote on Instagram. “You made a mistake, your apology was sincere and your punishment is clearly too severe.
“You are the right man for Lyon and we shall persevere. Allez l’OL!”
The French League’s disciplinary commission, led by Sebastien Deneux, said that “by throwing himself at the referee and shouting at him, Fonseca displayed an intimidating and threatening attitude”.
Lyon, however, were clearly unhappy with the ruling, and added that they were contemplating “all possible remedies”.
Since arrival on 31 January, Fonseca has been in the dugout for only five of Lyon’s games, including an opening 3-2 defeat at Marseille, a 4-0 win over Reims, and Sunday’s defeat of Brest.
The seven-time French champions are currently sixth in the Ligue 1 standings with 39 points after 24 games, and are at FCSB on Thursday in the Europa League round of 16, with Fonseca expected to be in the dugout as his ban is only for domestic competitions.
