The subject of many rumors since the announcement of Xavier Thuilot’s departure from AS Saint-Étienne, Claude Puel has decided to react to this event and to put things right.
To everyone’s surprise, AS Saint-Étienne made official this weekend the departure of Xavier Thuilot, general manager of the Greens, who is very close to Claude Puel. And proof that this had been prepared in advance, ASSE quickly appointed by appointing Jean-François Soucasse to replace Xavier Thuilot. This decision by Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caïazzo surprised everyone, and very quickly he thought that Claude Puel could decide to put the flashing light on Geoffroy-Guichard’s side for lack of the full support of the two presidents of Saint- Etienne. But this Thursday, in a long interview with Progress, the coach of AS Saint-Étienne decided to react to this departure of Thuilot, but also to put things right concerning his current situation with the Greens.
For Claude Puel, who praised the quality of Xavier Thuilot’s work, there is no need to argue with Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caïazzo. But the ASSE general manager has clearly spoken of his future on the Saint-Etienne bench. ” There is a decision that has been made and I want to be pragmatic about it. In this kind of situation, I like to behave professionally. We worked well with Xavier, we welcome Jean-François Soucasse and I wish us a very good collaboration for the good of the club. I want to keep moving forward. If I feel supported by the leaders? Of course. The speculations around my case? I’m past the age. It is the club that is weakened for all the reasons listed, not me. I do not define a project and apply it as I see fit. The club is financially impacted by the pandemic, by this broadcaster story and cannot be an actor in the transfer window. We have to move ASSE forward in the short term and prepare for the future in the medium term. With the leaders, we try to manage the present as best as possible without compromising the future. There is no other project unfortunately or fortunately because we are going back to the roots of ASSE, relying more heavily on his training and the principles of the game, even if it is difficult “, Explains Claude Puel, who specifies that he knew that the post of coach of AS Saint-Étienne was not an easy job given the passion always engendered by the Greens. But that does not prevent him from wanting to continue his journey to the State.