AS Saint-Etienne : “Amateur football is the foundation, and the foundation is the educators” | ASSE News

Dominique Rocheteau (65) has just left his position as member of the Management Board of AS Saint-Etienne. For Actufoot, the legend passed by the Greens, PSG and Toulouse FC looks back on his career, his fondest memories, his regrets … He also gives us his look at amateur football. Interview !

Dominique, how are you?

I am very well. I retired a while ago, even though I was still in Saint-Etienne on the board, but since confinement I have no longer been active in the club. It was programmed like that. I returned to the sources, I returned to my region in Royan (in Charente-Maritime, note). It’s a new life, a new start!

Why did you relaunch the “Foot For All Internships”, eight years later?

I do a lot of things out of passion and feeling. It was a little programmed, I knew that when I stop my managerial career in Saint-Etienne, I will come back to my region and I will keep a sports activity. I want to do things for my region of origin, I wanted to recreate internships for children. I have a great site in Royan in partnership with the town hall. With what happened, it was a bit complicated for this summer over the two months, we had to adapt to the situation. Finally, I open an internship in August for two weeks, but I want to register for the long term.

Why the name “Football for all”?

It’s for both boys and girls, ages 6 to 17. It’s recreational football but it’s also for progress. Very good players have gone through my internships, some have made careers in Ligue 2 or in Ligue 1 like Nicolas Pépé. It’s about the fun of playing football!

“My relationship has been strong with the supporters of Saint-Etienne”

You have been sports director of ASSE for 10 years. What do you remember from this experience?

It has been a great pleasure. There have been human relationships, which is very important to me, with Messrs Christophe Galtier, Jean-Louis Gasset, Roland Romeyer, Bernard Caiazzo and others. There were a lot of results anyway, because we were European: it is not easy with the competition! We were regularly qualified with great matches in the Europa League. My relationship was strong with the supporters of Saint-Etienne, I lived great moments!

Are there any particular tensions between Romeyer and Caiazzo?

No, because I am someone who brings people together, I do not like conflict and I can sometimes be blamed for it. I tried to develop a positive mindset.

Which coach did you get along with best?

It is difficult to make comparisons. The two coaches who impressed me are: Christophe Galtier and Jean-Louis Gasset, of course.

Why do you think the Greens played the low rankings this past season?

We played the top 5 for a long time, but Jean-Louis (Gasset, Editor’s note) left after a great season. There was a little disappointment at the level of the club, of the players … It was not easy for Ghislain Printant to get behind. To succeed, you have to work over time. It was a new start, but the results were not there. Claude Puel arrived with a different philosophy. It’s a complicated year, but maybe a year in reconstruction. Claude is a coach who likes to trust young people. Saint-Etienne will have a renewed and rejuvenated team. It will therefore take time to get results.

Did you miss a goal scorer like you?

I scored more in Paris than in Saint-Etienne where I played a right winger in a 4-3-3. I never saw myself as a typical center forward, but more like a free attacker. The goalscorer is important in a team and must score. In my leadership period, there was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He asserted himself at ASSE. Max-Alain Gradel had a very good period too. Then we brought in several attackers who weren’t necessarily successful like Robert Berić. If you have a goalscorer who scores 15-20 goals in a season, that’s a big plus. In recent years, we haven’t had that scorer! But it is not easy to find or it is very expensive.

“We were a team of friends”

Memories, memories: we are forced to talk about green madness in 1976 and the Green Angel (the nickname of Dominique Rocheteau). What era, right?

We can say “what era”, yes, because we are still talking about it! During the confinement, there were reruns of European Cup matches. It is rooted in the history of French football, and in that of Saint-Etienne. It was a fabulous time, but before us, there were also great players like Salif Keita. In team 75-76-77, we were very close and we meet regularly. It is always a pleasure to meet again because on the ground we were a team of friends.

You are part of the legendary 11 by Robert Herbin, nicknamed “The Sphinx”, according to L’Equipe. Does that make you happy?

Yes, of course, with Robby who we miss, a great man!

You then played for seven years at Paris Saint-Germain and scored 100 goals alongside players like Nambatingue Toko or Mustapha Dahleb…

With Safet Sušić, Luis Fernandez, I could cite many…

Was this trio at the level of Mbappé, Neymar and Icardi?

No, we cannot compare eras. And then, Mbappé is one of the best in the world, he will have a great career. Neymar too. These two players are among the best 5-6 players in the world. PSG have a team to win the Champions League, but it’s not easy. I hope PSG will get there and why not this year. In our time, we also had a strong team in 1986, it was the Paris spectacle! We were lacking in experience, but in one match we were there. Today, there are extraordinary players at Paris Saint-Germain.

At PSG, you have been repositioned center forward. How does an attacker think?

I was enjoying the pass as much, even though there were no statistics at the time. In Saint-Etienne, I did a lot of centers when in my early days I only thought of scoring. But, with the culture and the mood of the Greens, the collective was important as in Paris. I liked to score but I was not obsessed with it.

“I would have liked to win the World Cup”

Are you the fourth top scorer in PSG history, a hell of a performance?

We can always do better, I would have liked to win the World Cup. We won the European Championship with the French team, but not the World Cup. I have no regrets or perhaps that of not having gone abroad, to England. I have always loved English football with its full stadiums and great atmosphere.

English football today is not yesterday’s football. A preference ?

I might have had more fun with today’s English football. I had the opportunity to leave at the end of my career, but it couldn’t be done and I stayed in Paris.

Dominique Rocheteau

The Parc des Princes, Geoffroy Guichard: two boiling audiences. In which match did you have total communion with the supporters?

To Geoffroy Guichard in the European Cup of course: the public carried us, he was the 12th man. We have turned things around, and even with Paris. These are also great memories with the Coupe de France finals at “home” at the Parc des Princes with the Parisian public. During the first victory in the Coupe de France final, the field was invaded by supporters, a great memory!

Have you never wanted to be a coach?

No, I’ve never been drawn to coaching, but I wanted to stay in football. I could have been a trainer. I preferred to touch everything, I created an academy in Vietnam or set up internships in Royan.

You ended your career at Toulouse FC. What do you remember from this period?

It wasn’t impressive in terms of football, even though we were European with a great team and great players like Alberto Márcico, Franck Passi, Yannick Stopyra. It was the end of my career …

“In 1982, we had the team to go to the finals”

Three World Cups in 78, 82, 86 and a European championship in 84. What do you remember from these international campaigns?

In 1978, there were two generations with Michel Platini, Patrick Battiston, Maxime Bossis and Henri Michel. A somewhat frustrating World Cup, we stood up to Argentina (2-1 defeat) who won the World Cup in an impressive stadium: the Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti stadium (in Buenos Aires, editor’s note). It was the stadium that most impressed me in my career. We were eliminated in the first round, we lost to Italy in the first game. 82 and 86 remain two great World Cups with two semi-finals, but we’re not going to make history again. It was two great adventures… We had the team in 1982 to go to the finals, but that’s how it is.

A word about Michel Hidalgo who left us this year?

He was a man full of humanism, very close to his players, he had a conception of football based on attacking play. He created the French quartet. We did a long journey together and we were very close until the end. In Marseille, we all met before his death and it was a great moment.

What is your take on amateur football?

I never left the amateur world! With Roland Romeyer, we often went to meet supporters in the supporter sections. We were received by amateur clubs. Amateur football is the foundation, and the foundation is educators who have a primary function. We have to make sure that amateur football is helped. I don’t want to compare the periods, but in terms of volunteering, there is an increasing shortage.

With the Covid-19 crisis, is bottom football in danger?

Yes of course, the current period will hurt but even before, in the small villages, the players were attached but today this is no longer the case. Some clubs merge, it’s difficult to live. Aid from the federations is needed!

Interview by Farid Rouas.

Crédit Photo : ASSE