Football tells about all the troubles of Saint-Etienne. ua.

In 80 years of French league history, only two events have stopped Ligue 1. This is World War II and the coronavirus pandemic.

The year before last, the French league was the only one of the top 5 European championships to decide to end the championship ahead of schedule.. The administration of the League listened to the government, which banned all sports competitions. The final places were determined by the results of 28 rounds.

From the strangest championship in history, PSG emerged victorious. The Parisians lifted the ninth cup of the best French team in their history and caught up with Marseille. Ahead - only the absolute record holder of the country of Saint-Etienne.

In contrast to the stellar Parisians, in the history of the " The last, tenth championship, the team won back in 1981. It seems that the club's record will fall already this year: PSG is rushing at full speed to its anniversary championship. Saint-Etienne has absolutely polar tasks: to survive.

After 23 rounds, Saint-Etienne firmly settled at the bottom of the standings, has already experienced a change of coach and a conflict with his own fans. How the champion of the championship of France was on the verge of relegation – will tell Football. ua Saint-Etienne is another victim of the coronavirus crisis. Club for owners is an illiquid liability In France, football is, first of all, a business. Only a few teams led by PSG can afford to be unprofitable. Often, most clubs somehow try to get into a small plus. A very rich owner who gives money to a club to watch his favorite team from the podium - this is a very rare situation in France.

Like most Ligue 1 clubs, Saint-Etienne lives without a majority owner. The club's shares are split between the fans and two co-investors: Roland Romeir and Bernard Caiazzo. Both are owners of large businesses related to macro management and asset management.

With football management, the co-owners are not very. For a year they have been unsuccessfully trying to sell Saint-Etienne. The team simply became unnecessary when it began to lose income. Losses in money are connected, first of all, with the disaster during the re-signing of the contract for television rights: then the new broadcaster simply went bankrupt and left the entire league without money for broadcasts.

Last spring, the team's owners announced that they were ready to sell the club.. But finding a buyer is not easy.. For almost a year, only one potential investor was seriously interested in Saint-Etienne - Crown Prince of Cambodia Norodom Ravichak. But the buyer was scared away by the results of the team and debts: the most titled club in France owed almost 200 million euros.

By the way, almost the entire lower part of the Ligue 1 standings suffered from the situation with TV rights.. For example, last year the owner of Bordeaux also declared himself bankrupt and the club was able to finish the championship only thanks to donations from former players.. And now he's also fighting for survival.

One of Saint-Etienne's biggest problems is its own fans Without sane investors, the fans have come to the fore. Rightly they consider themselves to be in a position to make decisions at the club: the fan organization has a part of Saint-Etienne's shares, and the income from tickets sold is an important element of the fragile economy of the "

The fans of Saint-Etienne were brought up in the spirit of the most titled club in France: they say that we are part of the best club in the country. For them, the bad results of the team are temporary and obscure difficulties, and not the result of failed management and the unwillingness of the owners to deal with the team..

The most striking illustration of the disproportion between the possibilities of the club and the expectations of the fans was the fate of the Greens coach Claude Puel. Objectively, the specialist was a good option, but the fans demanded the dismissal of the coach for a year and a half. Cause? The fact that he once coached Lyon (the worst enemy of Saint-Etienne) and did not play attacking football. Although the team had neither players nor opportunities to strengthen for this.

The peak of the fight between the fans and the management of the club and the team is the October match with Angers. Before the game, the fans threw pyrotechnics on the field and set the goal net on fire.. As a result, serious fines were imposed on the club..

In December, Claude Puel was nevertheless fired: instead of him, the club was headed by Pascal Duprat In fairness, Claude Puel was fired not only because of difficult relations with fans. An experienced coach left the team at the bottom of the standings. Saint-Etienne has an impressive 12-match winless streak this season..

Pascal Duprat took over the team in mid-December. Before the most titled club in France, the specialist coached only two major league clubs - Caen and Toulouse. Both, by the way, flew to League 2, but not immediately: the crisis and modest teams Duprat managed to keep afloat for several seasons.

The idea of \u200b\u200bthe club's management is clear: they took a coach who, perhaps, knows how to fight for survival better than all the available candidates. The appointment paid off: Saint-Etienne won two matches in a row. But the bottom of the standings did not leave.

The basis of the team is either very young players or veterans who are playing for the age. The total transfer value of Saint-Etienne is a little more than 105 million euros.. In the consolidated table, the Greens are at the top - in ninth place. But the numbers are deceptive: the team is ranked so high only due to the abundance of young players.

Young people in Saint-Etienne are not allowed to play because of the abundance of options. There are simply no other players for many positions anymore. Therefore, the leaders in playing time are 23-year-old Mahdi Kamara, Ivann Macon and Arnaud Norden, 22-year-old Mikael Nade and Zaidu Yusuff, 21-year-old Etienne Green and 18-year-old Luca Gurna-Duat.

The youth are diluted by experienced, but it seems that Riyad Boudebuz, Wahbi Khazri and Timote Kolodzeychak, who have already played their own at a high level, have played. A company of experienced soldiers does not shine with a brilliant game, but maintains a stable level.

Over the winter, Saint-Etienne has strengthened with six newcomers: most of the transfers are transfers of free agents The new coach of the Greens, Pascal Duprat, began to build a team for himself. There are very few resources for this, so we used free opportunities for enhancements: leases and signing free agents.

For example, Saint-Etienne offered a contract to Elyakim Mangala, who, after Valencia, spent six months without a club. The Greens also brought back Enzo Crivelli in France, who previously played more than successfully for Bordeaux and Bastia..

Another interesting newcomer to Saint-Etienne is defender Joris Nyanion. The last time Joris entered the field was back in 2020 for Sevilla. Six months ago, the Spanish club insisted on breaking the contract with the defender: the reason is unsportsmanlike behavior and, according to rumors, a constant violation of the regime.

The funny thing is that French sports journalists report that they arrived in Saint-Etienne Nyanon with 20 kilograms of excess weight..

Despite managerial anarchy, conflicts with fans and financial difficulties, Saint-Etienne does not look hopeless. Before the zone of transitional matches after a very successful last round - only three points. The team chartered one of the league's most successful survival coaches over the winter. At the same time, she signed several experienced players who will help stabilize the youth..

It is symptomatic that two legendary teams for France, Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux, are forced to fight for survival this season.. Together they have 15 championship titles.

But if Bordeaux at least has a stable shareholder, then Saint-Etienne is absolutely not needed by its owners.. And the team can only survive for the hope of being bought by people more interested in it..

All the hardest for Saint-Etienne is just ahead.

Bohdan Maksimets, Football. ua.