It’s the end of a false suspense. Laurent Battlès is officially the new coach of AS Saint-Étienne replacing Pascal Dupraz. He will have the heavy task of orchestrating the new sporting era of the Greens, in Ligue 2, with a budget halved. Laurent Batllès had been free since leaving Troyes, which he had managed to bring back to Ligue 1. By joining the ASSE bench, he achieved the goal he had set for himself since the end of his playing career. .
A connoisseur of ASSE
Laurent Batlles has known ASSE from every angle. First as a player since he played in the green jersey between 2010 and 2012. Two full seasons at the end of which he immediately joined the recruitment unit before being injected into the staff of AS Saint-Étienne First among young people, as coach of the under-15s. Then in the antechamber of the pro team, with the ASSE reserve.
It was in 2015 that he rose to prominence, becoming one of Christophe Galtier’s assistants. At that time we already know, becoming the number one coach of the Greens will be one of his career goals. When he left to lead the Troyes team in June 2019 in Ligue 2, it was because the door to the Stéphane bench once again closed on him. But at ESTAC, which he moved up to Ligue 1, he showed that he has the stature of a coach. And the positioning of his friend and former teammate Loïc Perrin as the boss of the sports field at ASSE quickly made him the number ONE choice to succeed Pascal Dupraz.
Laurent Batllès on the website asse.fr : “I am very happy to return to this club after nine extraordinary years. I was a player, then a coach, from the smallest categories to the big ones. Coaching the first team is an achievement for me. With a lot of desire and self-sacrifice, we have set ourselves goals for this new season. Relegation hurt everyone, me too. We will now rebuild.“
End of the Dupraz era
It is therefore the end of Pascal Dupraz’s contract at Saint-Étienne. The Haut-Savoyard, accustomed to rants and media stunts, has completely disappeared from the radar since the defeat of ASSE against AJ Auxerre on May 29, recording the relegation of the Greens to Ligue 2. “Appointed after the 18th day of Ligue 1 Uber Eats when the Greens had only 12 points, Pascal Dupraz and his staff managed to breathe new life and gleaned 20 additional points to access the play-offs”specifies the club in a press release, and thanking Pascal Dupraz, even “if the outcome is not positive”.