Saint-Étienne - Green Machine Revival

[Matty Aqua]

"GREEN MACHINE REVIVAL"

PROLOGUE

To give some context, I lived in France for a while in 2019 but never got the chance to visit Saint-Étienne, I always wanted to manage a team in France and topple PSG and Saint-Étienne felt like a good project. As for the save, I did consider starting this save as an 'attributeless’ save using the Statman skin created by  @_Ben_ but the commitment and dedication required were probably a bit out of my wheelhouse! it's a terrific skin tho and I strongly recommend you check out his threads, who knows! maybe one day I'll venture into the world of FM attributeless! but for now, I'll leave that to the elite FM managers.

The database I am using is quite large as I play mostly on my PC and prefer a deeper world of footballers available - I play slowly anyway I may start other save threads and write/blog/play them at my own pace also - so that won’t mean this save is dead, it just means I just have a few different ideas and clubs I would like to manage and the new feature allows me to do so.

I welcome and am encouraging of all discussion in this thread, but I always like to clarify that I am not an FM tactical guru and I am constantly learning new things from other creators in the community.

 Cheers - Matty

 

 

CLUB HISTORY

Saint-Étienne were founded on June 26, 1933, Saint-Étienne are celebrating its 90th anniversary this season. Based in the Rhone-Alps region the city of Saint-Étienne was once the centre of the coal mining industry, situated at the heart of the Loire coal mining basin. The mines have long since closed, but the city remains proud of its heritage and new signings are given a miner’s lamp on joining St-Étienne. The club says the lamp is an "object symbolizing the history of the city of Saint-Étienne" and carries the values of "hard work and bravery". The football club was founded by employees of a grocery store chain called Groupe Casino; the choice of their famous green kits was due to it being the primary colour of the grocery store. Upon football becoming professional in France, in 1933 the club changed its name to AS St Etienne or ASSE as it is commonly known and was inserted into the second tier of French football. They gained promotion to the first division during the 1938-39 season under the stewardship of Englishman Teddy Duckworth.

Saint-Étienne were once serial winners in French football between the years 1956 and 1981 Les Verts secured their place in the history of French football by winning ten league titles, a record that has only just been surpassed by PSG recently. It may be hard to believe now considering Ligue 1 has been dominated by the Qatari-backed PSG over the last decade, winning 9 titles since 2012/13 taking PSG to 11 in total. Saint-Étienne now sits behind them holding the second most amount of league titles with 10 titles, their last title league title was won over 40 years ago in 1980/81 captained by iconic Michel Platini. The year, after their final league title win Saint-Étienne, suffered a sudden and steep decline after long-time president Roger Rocher was jailed for his role in an illicit payments scandal, Roger Rocher led Saint-Étienne through its glory days of nine French League championships between 1964 and 1981 and an appearance in the 1976 European Champions Cup final losing to Bayern Munich, he resigned the presidency of Saint-Étienne, which he had held for 21 years. In August 1982, Roger Rocher admitted the existence of a 'slush fund' at the club, made up of undeclared gate receipts and used to pay star players illegal bonuses, this was the catalyst for a downturn, with club legend Robert Herbin’s lengthy stint as manager ending in 1983. unsurprisingly the club suffered relegation to Ligue 2 in 1984. Saint-Étienne returned to the top flight in 1986, but they were never quite the same force. They would retain their status their Ligue 1 status for a decade despite the ongoing financial insecurities. In 1996, the club was relegated back to the second tier and again bounced back to Ligue 1 in 1999. The following year there was yet another scandal as two players were found to be using fake passports – after an investigation that showed some staff members were involved in the acquisition of the forged documents, Saint-Étienne was docked seven points and relegated not returning to Ligue 1 until 2004. 

Following another three seasons in Ligue 2, St Etienne returned to the top flight for the 2004/05 campaign. They arrived back in the top division with a new philosophy in which the club’s investment in youth was the main focus going forward. The 04/05 squad consisted of a core group of players who had either emerged through the academy (Bafetimbi Gomis and Loic Perrin) or were shrewd investments in quality young French players (Blaise Matuidi and Dimitri Payet). Perrin, who stayed with his boyhood club throughout his entire career is considered one of the best players to wear the green of St. Etienne in recent years. In December 2009, Galtier was appointed the head coach of Saint-Étienne, with ASSE in danger of relegation following the departure of Alain Perrin. Galtier successfully guided ASSE to safety in his first season, finishing in 17th place. Christophe Galtier’s nearly seven-and-a-half tenure has been the highlight of the modern era, Saint-Etienne finished as high as fourth in 2013-14, and he led them to six successive top-half finishes. Jean-Louis Gasset also managed to keep Saint-Etienne strong, as they finished seventh and fourth in respective seasons, with that top-four finish earning them a spot in the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League. Gasset walked out in May 2019 after a reported dispute with the club’s board and then Ghislain Printant’s stint at the club was short-lived, leading Claude Puel, former Premier League manager of Leicester City and Southampton, to win the job in October 2019.

Puel joined a club sitting 19th in the league but quickly gave every Saint-Etienne supporter the perfect gift, a win against hated rivals Lyon, but a hallmark of Puel’s tenure was been his side’s tendency to go on long runs of form - both good and bad. Saint-Etienne lost nine of their last 12 Ligue 1 matches in the 2019-20 season, winning just one before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak with Puel’s men sitting 17th on the table, Just two sides were relegated that season with Saint-Etienne ultimately finishing seven points adrift of safety. The Coupe de France provided more joy, though, with Saint-Etienne making an exciting run to the final. Only a goal from PSG’s Neymar decided that showpiece occasion, as Saint-Etienne - playing for more than an hour with 10 men after a bright start saw them only denied the opener by the woodwork - fell just short of claiming the title they last won in 1977. Puel's tenure would end at Saint-Étienne in 2021 and the club would again be relegated to Ligue 2 losing 5-4 on penalties to Auxerre in their promotion-relegation playoff, angry fans then stormed the pitch setting off flares resulting in Saint-Étienne being deducted three points and having to play four matches behind closed doors the following season.

Currently, AS Saint-Étienne is still in the hands of its two main shareholders Bernard Caiazzo and Roland Romeyer, who are at odds over the club's future. In 2021 Cambodian crown prince Norodom Ravichak, the nephew of the king, had made a €100m bid and outlined a bold plan to restore the fallen giants to their former glory, but to add further embarrassment to the recently relegated status the documents provided were fake. The co-presidents Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caïazzo have overseen a backsliding in the club’s standing as successive bids were pushed away by either one or the other, putting the club’s much-needed sale on standby for years. With both men prioritising their favoured bidders and neither willing to invest much money into the club, they have let the club sleepwalk into financial and sporting dismay.

Saint-Étienne is still currently in Ligue 2 and according to reports, the owners are still looking for a buyer of this historic club but things are tougher now more than ever, as Ligue 1 has shifted to just 18 teams also the French Football Association has been forced to scrap its domestic broadcast rights auction after getting no offers that met the minimum prices for the two main Ligue 1 live packages from 2024 to 2029, meaning much less TV broadcast revenue for french clubs making it even harder for the French leagues to try to close the financial gap between the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A. Unfortunately, Amazon Prime appears to believe it overpaid for the rights in 2021 and is in no mood to bid against itself, Canal+ is still smarting from the decision to award MediaPro the rights five years ago, and beIN is finally making money and is perfectly happy with the rights it already holds, DAZN is saving up for a run on the Premier League’s rights and Apple is just not interested in French club football. The relationship between Canal Plus and French football is similar to that between Sky Sports and the English Premier League in the UK.

The mega-rich Premier League's current three-year cycle for broadcast rights, from 2022 to 2025, was sold for more than £10 billion, with international rights outstripping the figure for the domestic market for the first time. This bidding process comes at a delicate time for French football, given the recent departures of superstars Lionel Messi and Neymar from champions Paris Saint-Germain and the uncertainty over the long-term future of Kylian Mbappe at the Qatar-backed club. Who knows what the future of French football will look like?

 

STADE GEOFFROY-GUICHARD

Rarely has a city captured an audience that has identified so much with a stadium, built on mine galleries and surrounded, for decades, by factories whose chimneys let out puffs of black smoke. Anchored in the centre of the city, it constitutes more than ever the monument which symbolizes the city of Saint-Etienne. It has been transformed and modernized over time. From an elliptical configuration to its latest evolution since 2016 a more harmonious structure while keeping its soul which means that Geoffroy-Guichard will always remain Geoffroy-Guichard. The Stade Geoffroy-Guichard is affectionately nicknamed Le Chaudron (The Cauldron) for its fiery atmosphere, Recently renovated for Euro 2016, Geoffroy-Guichard is the 7th largest stadium in France. It can accommodate up to 42,000 spectators for Greens matches, but also for international competitions. So in 2023, the stadium will host the Rugby World Cup and, a year later, football matches during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

 

THE BLACK PANTHER

      

The legendary Salif Keita was an African icon who joined the club in the late 60s and is often referred to as the Black Panther, Saint-Étienne once saluted their legendary player with a Black Panther club crest in his honour, and sadly he passed away recently, but how Salif Keita ended up a player for Saint-Étienne is a legendary tale itself. A Saint-Étienne fan, who was working for the embassy of Lebanon, spotted him in Mali and persistently wrote to the club informing them of Salif Keita's talent. He also insisted that they keep it a secret. Consequently, Salif Keita was smuggled from Mali to Liberia and then flew to Paris, France. At the time, the directors of Saint-Étienne were not present at the airport to meet him. Upon arrival, the letter of introduction sent by the club persuaded a local taxi driver to take him over 500km to Saint-Etienne, where an official paid a fare that would total nearly £1,100 today. In his five years at the club, Salif Keita won three league titles, two French Cups, and the first African Ballon d'Or award. He scored 140 goals in 185 games along the way. It was arguably the best money the club has ever spent. 

Salif Keita is remembered as a trailblazing pioneer by many African footballers who followed in his footsteps to play in Europe. Though the recruitment of African players to European clubs did not properly begin until the 90s, long after he had retired, Keita is still considered one of the greats inspiring generations of African players to come and play in Europe, the Panther celebration by Bafetimbi Gomis is said to be a symbol following the goal-scoring exploits of Salif Keita, which makes it a perfect time to reintegrate a focus on scouting players from West Africa and try to find our next Black Panther.

SQUAD OVERVIEW

AS Saint-Étienne football club consists of 3 teams, Participating in different contests and tournaments.

• Ligue 1
• Coup De France

 

• First Team Squad
  • The first team will average a squad of an average of 23-25 players. The focus is primarily on the current ability.
  • Youth players showing promise will be given opportunities to train with the first team and be part of the game-day squad.
    • ST - Yanis Lhéry  (20) 
    • W - Maxence Rivera (21)
    • GK - Boubacar Fall (22)

 

• B Team
  • (Team active, but not registered in competition in-game)
• Under 19 Team
  • French Under 19 National

THE TACTIC

LES VERTS ACADEMY 2023

 

OBJECTIVES

⚡ Get Promoted to Ligue 1

The first objective is to get Saint-Étienne back into Ligue 1, I will be taking over the position as manager at approximately the time Laurent Battles got sacked in real life so the "Day One" approach is a bit different for me, I won't have an upcoming pre-season to prepare for, and there's no tactic testing or getting to know the strengths and weaknesses of my players.

🔍 Sign one West African player per season

With a recruitment focus set to West Africa, I am looking to find the best talent from nations Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. I plan on signing at least one player from a West African nation per season and integrating them into the club via the academy.

⚽ Break the Black Panther goal-scoring record

In the 1970/71 season, Salif Keita scored 42 goals, I'll need to find a hell of a player to break this record, but it adds an intriguing element to the save.

💲 Sell a homegrown player for more than €33,755,000

Not so long ago Saint-Étienne was recruiting and developing some high-profile players - Kurt Zouma, Wesley Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Dimitri Payet, and Blaise Matuid, all have been sold for profit the highest being the recent sale of Wesley Fofana to Chelsea for €33,755,000 I want to develop a player from our academy and break that record.

(The highest transfer Saint-Étienne has spent on a player was €9,786,000 on Loïs Diony from Dijon - he scored a total of 7 goals in 4 seasons for Saint-Étienne and signed for Angers for free)

💚 Win the Ligue 1 title

PSG have recently overtaken Saint-Étienne in titles won, it may take a few seasons to overthrow the giants that are PSG but I plan to rebuild Saint-Étienne as champions of Ligue 1.

🏆 Win the Champions League before PSG!

PSG have dominated the Ligue 1 competition over the last decade, but the Champions League remains an elusive trophy for PSG. Saint-Étienne and PSG have both finished second place in the Champions League final, more recently PSG lost to Bayern Munich in the 2019/20 season and Saint-Étienne also lost to Bayern Munich in the 1975/76 season, the irony huh? So as challenging as it can be to chase down PSG in the domestic competition winning the Champions League before them would be quite an achievement!

If you have managed to read this Introductory post then thanks, I hope it was informative and enjoyable to read about the history of Saint-Étienne and the plans I have for the save. As I mentioned all discussion is more than welcome and I will be starting the save around the time Laurent Battles has been sacked in real life, you can also find me on Twitter posting various things about life, football and Football Manager.

Edited July 4 by Matty Aqua

[Matty Aqua]

Reserved for Squad details...