While the club is celebrating this week, and in particular this Monday evening, the 90th anniversary of a Geoffroy-Guichard once again accessible to the public, ASSE unveiled this afternoon at L’Etrat the fresco, long of a ten meters long and produced by the Saint-Etienne artist Azote, which pays tribute to its greatest trainer. Robert Herbin passed away on April 27, 2020. The Greens’ education, training and administrative headquarters now bear his name.
Larqué, Santini, Rocheteau, Revelli, Perrin… It would be long, too long, to quote all the legends that came on Monday afternoon, to attend alongside a panel of elected officials, personalities linked to the club and institutions and many Of course, in front of a strong media presence, at the inauguration of the fresco tribute to Robert Herbin. The “Sphinx”, represented here four times, died on April 27, 2020. The next day, ASSE announced in a statement that its headquarters and training center* would henceforth bear his name.
A reaction worthy of the emblem, whose life is also a fresco: exceptional player from 1957 to 1972 then, in the process, quite simply the greatest trainer to have worked at ASSE, “Robby »Is involved in 15 of the club’s 17 major titles. To the emotion was added another, to the palpable sadness, since as Roland Romeyer recalled in his speech the club has just lost last week Gérard Farison, one of the men who coached in his, his fabulous teams Robert Herbin . The funeral had taken place that very morning.
“Robert Herbin knew how to awaken French football”
“The pandemic has prevented us from paying full tribute to Robert Herbin. The figures speak for themselves to evoke him, his records will undoubtedly hold up for a very long time “, emphasized Roland Romeyer. For whom, beyond ASSE, “He is the man who knew how to wake up French football, put it back on the map of European football. Let us not forget that he was also of great inner richness, endowed with a great general culture, passionate about classical music, faithful to Saint-Etienne. An extraordinary destiny. “
Jean-Michel Larqué also spoke, reminding his ex-teammates, since we are in a training center, the famous very physical sessions on Tuesday morning so difficult to take (when he took power, the Sphinx judged France late on physical preparation). The ex-captain of Robert Herbin insisted a lot on the guts that his coach had to throw and trust so many young people and therefore the fact that no one else deserves so much to affix his name on what is, among others, A training center.
The inauguration of the fresco by artist Azote and the accompanying plaque was performed in the presence of her daughter and grandson. It was followed by the release of a tribute clip. The event takes place as part of a week of festivities launched on Monday and until the reception of the Girondins de Bordeaux (6e Ligue 1 day Uber Eats), to mark the 90e anniversary of the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium.
* Acquired in 2012 from Saint-Etienne Métropole, the 13 ha of the Robert-Herbin Sports Center in Etrat have housed the administrative headquarters since 2006.