He had already appealed “to reason”
to the leaders of AS Saint-Étienne at the start of the season, after the heavy defeat against Le Havre (0-6) on the fourth day of Ligue 2. Former ASSE player Patrick Guillou, now a consultant for beINSports, believes that all club lovers are entitled today to demand accountability from the management
France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire: The status quo after yesterday’s crisis meeting
do you understand it?
Patrick Guillou: Not really… Status quo it reminds me of a song, In the army now, hoping that the next few weeks they will put on the combat gear to go to the front in the end. The comparison is quite daring but it is high time to understand that on the side of AS Saint-Étienne something must be done. Usually, revolution happens with empty bellies. We realize that we continue to make revolution with full bellies.
France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire: What should have been done from your point of view, as a former player and football expert?
Patrick Guillou: Advisor does not pay. From the moment the shareholders have decided not to change anything, why from the outside want to absolutely impose something? I still don’t feel like they understand the urgency of the situation. We had kops which were extraordinary because I had the chance to commentate the match. So we can’t blame the supporters for providing support for more than an hour. Afterwards, they were peaceful as they left the stadium, with dignity and without noise. Apparently it still doesn’t change anything. No one at the club understood the urgency of the situation. So we’re going to make declarations of intent, we’re going to make pretty press releases, but that doesn’t change much at the root of the problem. At one point, those in the room after the press conference saw something surreal. Apparently, the game of poker, the move to throw all the chips on the table on the part of the executive committee or on the part of the executive has succeeded since we remain in an unchanged situation.
France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire: You talk about the arrival of Jean-François Soucasse at a press conference
…
Patrick Guillou: Yes of course. I talk about it because I was present so I saw it and I heard it. So at one point, it was to make a show of force also in relation to the shareholders, it succeeded. Good for the executive committee. We’re not here to ask each other’s heads. We are here to apparently also demand accountability. And when I say “we”, it’s those who love the club and it’s the supporters. Today, this triumvirate has been in place for almost a year. We are already at several coaches, we are still at fairly substantial player movements, more than thirty or forty players.
France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire: So a new ambitious transfer window as promised will not change anything in your opinion, the problem is deeper?
Patrick Guillou: The same people also gave us an ambitious transfer window last season. I remind you that we are exactly or almost in the same situation as last season, where we were promised, thanks to a transfer window and thanks to a change of coach, that things were going to be better after the winter transfer window. This transfer window is a fad.
France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire: And the mind then Patrick Guillou, because we are told that there will be work on the mind? This is something that you were pointing out, I believe, several months ago.
Patrick Guillou: No, but it’s obvious. But we were also sold, I don’t know if you remember, that we had set up at AS Saint-Étienne a software capable of knowing the psychological aspect of the players, that they would no longer be mercenaries, and I take up here the words of Samuel Rustem, and at some point everything had been calculated upstream to have players who also met the psychological requirements. I just remind you at some point that when you also look at the players who have been recruited, they are not partridges of the year either, they are players who have already played in other clubs, they are not not six-week-old rabbits, so the psychological profile in their old clubs, we guessed them. That’s it. There were players, we thought they were going to make the mesh, and we realize that Saint-Étienne is not just any club and that it is difficult to play there.
“Make sure that the merit returns and that we leave room for work and competence”
France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire: Do you manage to remain optimistic all the same for this club that you love Patrick Guillou?
Patrick Guillou: I have this club in me, it always has been. I was a supporter before being a player there. Afterwards, we can reverse the question: what are the optimists? Are they the well-informed pessimists or the other way around? It’s just an observation. It is to look at the results, it is to look at how the club is made up and how it is set up. When in the press release, we are told “all the internal forces of the club must be in unison”…
France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire: Is it a façade union for you?
Patrick Guillou: It is not a facade union, it is a union by interest. Do you understand the difference? It is that today, when we see that there is an audit, when we see that we are also trying to hide certain things, to hide the bad results, by saying that we are carrying out an audit on the center of training, that we are already preparing the sequel… the sequel is not today. Today, D-Day, is to get results as quickly as possible, and once again, we are trying a huge gamble […] You also have to know how to consider the worst situation, and here we start from the principle that against Annecy against Caen, when we go to play on the 26th [décembre] and the 30 [décembre], there will be four points, maybe six points taken and it will start again. If ever there are bad results, we will say “yes, but we have the transfer window that will happen“. So at some point, we’re always pushing it a little bit further, saying, it’s going to pass. Alright. Last year it’s already not passed.
France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire: But there is nothing more to do then Patrick Guillou, because you are telling us that the scenario is repeating itself?
Patrick Guillou: That’s different. Between “there is nothing more to do” and “the scenario repeats itself” they are two completely different things. At some point, rather than “mythocracy” – you can write it any number of ways, “lie” or “the buddies reunion” – you have to get the credit back and give way to the work and also to competence. So you are going to tell me “yes but that means that somewhere there are incompetents”, Nope. It’s at some point seeing exactly how things are done and how things are built. So let’s say one more time “Guillou he yells, he’s never happy, he’s embittered… Guillou he wants a place at the club”…I’m fine where I am and the way I live today. But at some point, open your eyes! You just have to look at what is happening and what is also happening in the big clubs.
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