Will Pascal Dupraz stay in St-Etienne at the end of the current season? Nothing is certain. The club is preparing at best to begin a 180 degree turn in order to exist in Ligue 1, and at worst to leave with new men capable of bringing the Greens back to Ligue 1. For the first scenario as for the second, the Savoyard coach does not seem to be the favourite.
The newspaper L’Equipe is doing a club tour of France this morning to discuss the situation of Ligue 1 coaches. Arrived last December to replace Claude Puel, Pascal Dupraz dreamed of maintaining ASSE as quickly as possible and celebrating this feat in a kop of Geoffroy Guichard on the occasion of the arrival of Reims … Saturday, the Haute-Savoie will be well at Geoffroy Guichard, but rather on the edge of the field. The maintenance is not yet acquired and worse, the pain of the supporters (and his) could continue until the roadblocks which seem to be looming for the Greens who would already be miraculous if they participated!
Pascal Dupraz, who took advantage of the improvement in Saint-Etienne a few months ago to put pressure on the leaders of ASSE so that they extend it, will therefore have to wait until the end of the current financial year to find out what his future will be made. Despite this facade speech, however, it would seem that the decision has been made, or at least that a clear trend is emerging: Loïc Perrin does not seem in favor of keeping the Haut-Savoyard coach in his position.
Pascal Dupraz, a convincing leader, has not, to date, convinced the Saint-Etienne leaders of his ability to bounce back a sick ASSE, whether in Ligue 1 or in Ligue 2. They seem convinced that the club must begin a new cycle which must bring it back to calmer waters. The departure of more than half of the workforce should therefore be combined with the arrival of a coach with a fresh look, capable of rebuilding a damaged building and falling within the ropes of ASSE financially. For this, the budget of the Greens would be between 60 and 130,000 euros per month. Enough to attract a coach with shoulders strong enough to become a builder and rebuild the foundations of a very sick ASSE.
Among the men whose name has already been mentioned, Laurent Battles appears to be the solution favored by Loïc Perrin who, according to information from L’Equipe, met the former reserve coach recently on the occasion of a match with the Variétés Club de France against the firefighters of Aubenas, on April 18. A meeting in the form of carpooling which made it possible to remind Laurent Battles that the Saint-Etienne board has made a commitment to Dupraz not to approach a coach before May 30. This does not prevent having ideas and exchanging…
Yesterday, Laurent Battles took a dim view of a return to ASSE, while Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caïazzo are still its presidents. Among the episodes that did not pass, the appointment of Julien Sablé as interim coach after the departure of Oscar Garcia while Battles was due to the diplomas he was about to obtain and the experience he had accumulated with de Galtier, an interim (or even more) potential. Since then, Caïazzo and Romeyer have taken a step back, which could reassure the Toulouse player. In addition, another significant fact, the family of Laurent Battles feeds in Veauche, is established there professionally, and does not wish to leave…
Michel Der Zakarian in second position?
The complete team of the day: « In the event of Dupraz’s departure, Batlles would become the number 1 option, but the case is therefore, here too, far from over. It is for this reason that the name of Michel Der Zakarian (59), at the less, is also advanced. But the Franco-Armenian still owes a year of contract to Brest (plus an optional third) and Saint-Étienne will not have a very large envelope to pay for a new coach.
One thing is on the next site of AS Saint-Etienne will be to find its next coach. For a new season to fight for maintenance or to try to go up in Ligue 1? This is the whole question today. A question that will be settled by the end of the month…