Allez Les Verts
Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire currently languishes in the French Second Division; a sad state of affairs for a club that boasts 10 French titles, six Coupe de France titles, a Coupe de la Ligue title and five Trophée des Champions.
The club plays at the 42,000 capacity Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, named after the founder of the club by his son Pierre when the ground opened in 1931.
That was all quite a long time ago, though. The last league title was won in 1980-81 and the last Coupe de France in 1976-7.
Since then, St-Etienne were caught up in scandal. In 1982, a financial scandal involving a controversial slush fund led to the departure and eventual jailing of long-time president Roger Rocher, and the club has never since scaled their previous illustrious heights, bouncing between the top two divisions and achieving the one title – Coupe de la Ligue in 2012-13 (this is the equivalent of the EFL Carabao Cup, but has been suspended since 2021). The club last played in Ligue 1 in 2021-22, when they were relegated to Ligue 2.
After a disastrous start to 2022-23, the club were in the Ligue 2 relegation places, recovering in the second half of the season to finish 8th. Now the board has decided to change direction to focus on youth development, with a view to returning to the top flight with a vibrant young squad. They have appointed unknown Bleua Gasquet as the new head coach, with a mandate to carry out the new strategy.
ASSE have little in the way of new money and the new manager is expected to use much of it to recruit and fund scouts, both for the first team and the academy, the latter of which is expected to deliver great things over the years. Any recruitment is likely to come via free transfers, and even that is likely to be restricted. The new manager is expected to deliver promotion, preferably as Ligue 2 champions, in the coming season, so the pressure is on.
