Fired by AS Saint-Etienne, Stéphane Ruffier paid for his disagreements with coach and manager Claude Puel. The two men had even started to clash long before the goalkeeper was sidelined.
If Claude Puel had waited until the end of February to dismiss Stéphane Ruffier last season, the first tensions had already appeared a month earlier in Saint-Etienne. In his book “Behind the Green Door”, journalist Bernard Lions recounted a clash during a meeting between the coach and the most experienced elements of the locker room. ” The final break occurs at the end of January 2020, before the arrival of Nîmes, wrote the observer from Saint-Etienne. Puel summons its main executives: Cabaye, Debuchy, Khazri, Perrin and Ruffier. The coach explains his ambitions to them. Ruffier speaks in the last, after Perrin and Khazri. And that’s when things started to go wrong.
Ruffier raised his voice
” “There is something I don’t understand, launched the guard at the technician. You summon us and every time one of my teammates says something, you say the opposite. What is this meeting for? I have to be told what we’re playing this year. The European Cup? To be efficient immediately or to train young people later? Does the club have financial concerns? What is your reasoning? Do we need to rejuvenate the squad, get the youngsters playing and maybe finish tenth? I would like to know the exact goal. I did not extend to mentor young people. You have to get closer to the players and stop spinning. ” “Obviously, Puel did not like it, hence the following we know …