The ax fell. AS Saint-Étienne is indeed sanctioned by the LFP. 6 matches behind closed doors, including 2 suspended and 6 penalty points, including 3 suspendedone month before the start of the new season in Ligue 2. Decision of the Professional Football League, after the violence that punctuated the end of the play-offs against AJ Auxerre, in the Cauldron.
Collective sanctions “absolutely not” justified
According to its chairman, the disciplinary committee went to explore a “high penalty zone”, because of the violence of the facts and the background of the club. It could have been worse, but for the president of the USS, the Union of Stéphanois supporters, Jean-Guy Riou, it’s already too much. “When you look closer, in fact, they are very hard”he believes.
According to him, these suspended penalty points, “It’s a sword of Damocles. That is to say that if there is a new crack of smoke bombs during the season, it will be 6 points which will be withdrawn from AS Saint-Étienne”. The Greens are indeed leaving with a cannonball at the foot, heavy with three points, ahead of their Ligue 2 opener against Dijon on July 30. For Jean-Guy Riou, collective sanctions are not “absolutely not” justified and “shouldn’t exist”.