AS Saint-Etienne had an absolutely nightmarish first part of the season. Denis Balbir points to the management of Bernard Caïazzo and Roland Romeyer.
The Saint-Etienne summer has perhaps never been so calm. Fans have been waiting for the transfer window of new recruits for the coming season. Almost in vain. And this calm actually presaged a big storm. The Greens had to wait until November 7 to win their first game of the season. They have already accumulated ten defeats. They are good last, with only 12 points, and 5 units behind Bordeaux, the first non-relegation, except for the play-off place. From a sporting point of view, the record is terrible. And at the same time, the sales process, started months ago by Bernard Caïazzo and Roland Romeyer, is moving forward in slow motion. In his column for But Football Club, Denis Balbir tries to explain the situation. The two presidents are not spared.
“ASSE cannot really count on its two presidents”
“In Saint-Etienne, it’s a disaster. A catastrophic year that started with the dismissal of Stéphane Ruffier – a page that was turning in the Forez – and which ended with this relegation position at mid-season with the change of coach (…) Today, the team is dislocated. If the mindset and the will to do well are there, the workforce is too tight. Pascal Dupraz is really facing a big job. A site in a particular context against the backdrop of a sale of the club which is slow to settle and which also plays on the morale of the locker room and behind the scenes. In this period, we also realize that ASSE cannot really count on its two presidents. One has also completely disappeared. We are really on the precipice. To recover and start 2022 on a good footing, Saint-Etienne needs a click. At present, ASSE has a foot and a half in Ligue 2 “, said Denis Balbir, the journalist being harsh but lucid about the crisis facing ASSE.