Despite all the cases that may still happen at the end of the 2019-2020 season, AS Saint-Etienne will still have experienced a very complicated exercise …
In addition to the joyous course in the Coupe de France, with a qualification for the final against PSG in a Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium invaded by its supporters, Sainté will have lived a difficult season. Between the change of coach, internal crises and disappointing players, ASSE has hit rock bottom in recent months. So much so that while waiting for the resumption of Ligue 1, the Greens are in seventeenth place in the championship, three points ahead of the Nîmes dam operator. But in addition to this sports crisis, the Forez club is also in the grip of great financial difficulties, as Romain Molina explains.
“Sainté is not a reasonable club, it is not much …”
“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 at 29 ME 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 TV Rights, ie 8-10 ME for Saint-Etienne. 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 … “, detailed, on Youtube, the journalist, who therefore admits that ASSE finds himself back to the wall, while a descent into L2 is possible in view of next season …