17th in Ligue 1 before the suspension of the championship caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, AS Saint-Etienne is in a very delicate financial situation. Journalist Romain Molina warns leaders, while the threat of relegation to Ligue 2 still lurks …
“In Saint-Etienne, there is a problem … How can a club be in financial shit when each year it sells pretty well and it buys for less behind?” The structural deficit is growing from year to year. Today it is around 14-15 million euros. The objective of ASSE each season is to finish at the top of the table. Except that this season, sportingly, it gets stuck. Impressive, it leaves, Wantier, it leaves. The arrival of Puel, new expenses, the camera … etc. In addition, there is a drop in income that is happening. In cash, they were € 29 million last year. There they burned cash every month because the business model is not good. Sainté spends more than he earns. And this crisis arrives… With the blocking of Doits TV, ie 8-10 M € for Saint-Étienne. It’s going to be complicated. Today, there is a real cash flow problem at ASSE. The club is in debt, with two bank loans. The wage bill has exploded. The soup is very good, the friends eat well. ASSE seeks to save money. But with this lack of income and the money that no longer comes in, what should we do? Sainté is not quiet like Strasbourg, Montpellier, Reims … Sainté is not a reasonable club, it is not much … There, ASSE has several solutions. Either you continue with the logic of bank loans, or you put shareholder level cash, or you bring in a minority shareholder, or you sell players in the transfer window, like Fofana or Bouanga. But the situation is complex, because there is not really a strategy … “