Pierre Sage is a magician.That is what former Lyon owner John Textor told Sage having sacked him after 14 months in charge. To that end, he is also a source of regret. “It was one of the dumbest decisions of my life,” Textor tells The Athletic.Sage led Lyon to sixth in Ligue 1 and qualification for the Europa League in his first season, 2023-24, despite taking over in October, initially on an interim basis, with them bottom of the table. They were sixth again at the time of his departure the following season. He had dismissed Textor’s praise, recalling the conversation in French newspaper L’Equipe shortly after his exit in February 2025, insisting he was “not Gerard Majax”, the French magician. Rather, his success was not down to supernatural tricks but “the result of the hard work and dedication that the staff, the players, and I put into a shared project”. Sage’s dream, he told The Athletic last year, was to work in England because “it’s the best country and the best league”.His measured approach and the success it has delivered over a fledgling coaching career has led the 47-year-old to the Premier League with Crystal Palace, where he has agreed a three-year deal to succeed Oliver Glasner. The Austrian once declared he was no magician, too, and went on to deliver unprecedented success at Selhurst Park.That Sage has followed suit bodes well.Pierre Sage is lifted up by his Lyon players after reaching the Coupe de France final in 2024 (Olivier Chassignole/AFP via Getty Images)Patience has been a feature of Sage’s journey to this point.He spent his playing career with French amateur club CS Belley before taking on various backroom roles across different clubs in France. His first stint as a manager came with Chambery in 2013.He later joined Lyon-Duchere as Karim Mokeddem’s assistant. In 2019, he became Lyon’s youth-team coach and, after a period as assistant manager to Habib Beye at Red Star FC in Paris, he returned to Lyon as academy manager. “The smartest guy in that coaching staff was Pierre,” says Textor. “He’s like a college professor.”It was his work there and conversations with Textor which, in November 2023, earned him a promotion to become head coach following Fabio Grosso’s dismissal. A dysfunctional collection of experienced players and new arrivals had managed seven points from 12 games.“Fabio started badly (following the sacking of Laurent Blanc earlier in the campaign), tried to challenge the Lyon core players and had a set game plan,” says Textor. Sage, though, was different. “He’s incredibly adaptable and the best of the academy will be given opportunities. He is one of the smartest coaches; can coach under pressure, won’t pressure the ownership and will be appreciated by the fans.“He came into the locker room and he said: ‘Guys, whatever game plan I put in, you guys have to execute’. They trusted him enough because he was from there. It was a match made in heaven.”Alexandre Lacazette runs over to celebrate with Pierre Sage during the win over Toulouse that kickstarted Lyon’s 2023-24 season (Olivier Chassignole/AFP via Getty Images)That interim spell was successful, with Lyon moving out of the relegation zone and, in January, Sage’s contract was extended to the end of the season. They qualified for the Europa League and reached the Coupe de France final, where they were beaten by Paris Saint-Germain.After taking 46 points from 22 league games, he was appointed on a permanent basis.But it was not all plain sailing.After investment in the squad in the summer of 2024, by January Lyon had reached the last 16 of the Europa League and were sixth in Ligue 1. However, five games without a win in all competitions, the fear of not qualifying for the Champions League and the tantalising availability of Paulo Fonseca, long admired by Textor, prompted his sacking. In his second year, he won 13 games with eight draws compared to 20 wins and one draw in 2023-24, leaving an average 1.93 points per game. “He’s spectacular,” says Textor. “But he was a work in progress. He had a very fluid but loose creative and attacking way of playing. We had an extremely unstructured attack and he was still developing his ideas.“The defence wasn’t structured and results suffered.”Those results in early 2025, which included an embarrassing penalty shootout defeat by fifth-tier side Bourgoin-Jallieu in the Coupe de France last 32, led to Sage’s departure. “You take people through a set of binary choices,” explains Textor, who departed Lyon in the summer of 2025. “One: can we make it the Champions League with the manager? The answer was no. Everybody in the football department said it. Two: should we fire him? The answer was no. Everybody said it.“Three: are we prepared to give up our Champions League ambition? No. Everybody said it. Then I went back to: ‘OK, well, should we fire them? They all said yes. That’s the only way you could fire one of your best friends.“It was the worst sacking I’ve ever made in my life. It looks like one of the dumbest decisions in my life. If Paulo Fonseca was not available at that time, I wouldn’t have been asking that question (whether to sack him).”Lyon’s supporters hold a banner reading “P.Sage, we will not forget you” at Lens in August 2025 (Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)Typically a calm presence on the touchline, Sage is not the type to rant and rave, preferring a more measured approach, although he has become more assertive over time.Despite his success with Lyon, he was still relatively inexperienced, but Lens felt confident enough in his qualities to hire him last summer and Sage led them to second in Ligue 1, finishing six points behind champions PSG. Lens won the Coupe de France for the first time in their history too, defeating Nice 3-1.“This is the first time since I’ve been here that a team has given us trouble,” said PSG manager Luis Enrique after defeating Lens 2-0 in the penultimate game of the season to seal the title.“He brings a calmness and at the same time, he’s very good at motivating the players,” Lens owner Joseph Oughourlian told The Athletic in February. “He also promotes the youth.”Midfielder Adrien Thomasson told The Athletic that Sage is “so composed, so smart, and knows how to manage the players and the substitutes”.France manager Didier Deschamps presents Pierre Sage with the Ligue 1 coach of the year award for 2025-26 (Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images)Sage leaves Lens with 28 wins, four draws and eight defeats in all competitions, scoring 90 goals and conceding 46. In Ligue 1, his average was 2.06 points per game.“His brain, whether he admits this or not, works as mathematically as it does artistically,” Textor says. “He sees the full pitch as a blank canvas. I struggled to understand what he was doing at the beginning because he allowed things to be so fluid, but you start to see that there’s a structure to it. He likes intelligent athletes who are able to see the game as well as he can.“Players like Adam Wharton — he’ll be Pierre’s guy.”Although relatively inexperienced as a manager outside those brief spells in France’s lower leagues, Sage has impressed tactically and demonstrated adaptability and versatility.He studied for a Master’s degree in tactical periodisation in Portugal and has taken inspiration from Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Andoni Iraola and Marcelo Bielsa. “During the game, we have some rotations and asymmetric combinations to sometimes play in 4-3-3, but also in 3-4-3 or a 3-2-5,” Sage told The Athletic in April 2025. “It depends on what kind of players I have, the opponent and what we want to do in the game.“My opinion is not to have something strong, it’s to have something very liquid, with the idea to have a lot of adaptations between the games and in the same game, because sometimes, when the opponents change something, if you are not able to adapt, to solve the problems, you will not be competitive.”Pierre Sage could call upon Ryan Cherki during his time at Lyon (Alex Martin/AFP via Getty Images)He prefers a 3-4-2-1 formation and for his teams to defend high and press their opponents, but defend in 5-4-1 while being quick in transitions. If that sounds familiar, then it is. Glasner, who has left Palace after two and a half years in charge, operated in the same way.Sage’s Lens shared similarities with Palace under Glasner and his appointment appears to be a logical follow-on. They always played a 3-4-3, with Sage keeping the blueprint of predecessor Franck Haise.Much of their success came from a direct style of attacking propelled by aggressive wing-backs. They were particularly effective from corners, especially outswinging deliveries, scoring 11 times. First-choice No 10s Florian Thauvin and Wesley Said played close to Odsonne Edouard — whom Palace sold to the French club last summer — facilitating the direct passes that Lens liked to play into the channels from any of their back three.They ranked eighth in Ligue 1 for possession but first for crosses, tackles and interceptions. Counter-attacks were a strength, with the first half of the season built on a strong defensive base. As opponents worked them out when playing the reverse fixtures, things fell away after the winter break.They conceded three goals against each of Marseille, Monaco, Lille and Brest.Pierre Sage gestures from the touchline during Lens’ game against PSG in September 2025 (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)The system brought the best out of several players. Central midfielder Thomasson provided nine assists, the joint-most in Ligue 1 last season. Like Wharton’s role at Palace, he was given freedom to drop in when Lens built from deep and break lines.The three top players for expected assists in 2025-26 — a more robust measure of creativity based on the expect goals values of key passes — were from Lens. Thomasson, Thauvin and left wing-back Matthieu Udol produced outstanding creative numbers.Sage liked his wing-backs deep without the ball (in a 5-4-1) but required them to join in attacks, pushing onto the last line to pin opponents and combine with the No 10s. Tactically, he is a smart choice by Palace. Lens were title contenders for most of last season, finishing second on points as well as for goals scored (66) and fewest conceded (35).They defeated Lyon and Toulouse en route to winning the Coupe de France, and won 14 of 17 home matches, the best record in France’s top tier.“He likes (how Glasner plays),” says Textor. “If he can get it, he likes to win the ball in the other half. He’s very forward-thinking. He wants to see a lot of the ball, a lot of movement, and to see his players up the field so long as he has those defensive anchors.“Nobody will be more studied on Glasner’s system than Pierre. He’s a student of the game, an absolute intellectual, and has no ego or vanity. He’s going to know every player and what worked. He can adapt not only to the players but to another coach’s system.Pierre Sage is a student of the game, according to John Textor (Jeff Pachoud/AFP via Getty Images)“There’s a lot more structure to his style of play than was apparent because he left a lot of optionality for the players that were most capable of making those decisions in real time. In the Premier League, he will have that structure and won’t have to do a lot of teaching at the outset. But he’ll figure out very quickly who he can rely on to be more interpretive.”Sage, on paper at least, appears to be a good fit for Palace. His system offers continuity without the need for a significant squad overhaul or time to mould the players into a new way of playing.Even in a coaching career still in its infancy, he has handled awkward and strong personalities, bringing together a fractured dressing room at Lyon, while he has a vision and principles of play but is prepared to adapt.“Palace is getting a sweetheart of a man,” adds Textor, “who is an absolute savant as a coach.”Additional reporting: Liam Tharme