AS Saint-Etienne got their ticket to Ligue 1 after a crazy rise in the standings and a victory in the play-offs. A success signed Olivier Dall’Oglio but the players have not forgotten the contribution of their former coach Laurent Batlles.
At the end of a crazy season, ASSE returned to the elite of French football. The Greens got the better of Metz in the play-offs after a breathtaking overtime in the return match. A scenario as crazy as the rise of the Stéphanois in the rankings. Indeed, at mid-season, Sainté was only 8th in the championship with many units behind the top 5. One man changed the situation: Olivier Dall’Oglio. Results improved markedly after his appointment in December. ASSE was the best team in the return matches in Ligue 2. An observation which may be difficult to accept for Dall’Oglio’s predecessor on the bench, Laurent Batlles.
The players thought about Batlles after the climb
The former midfielder gave his feelings to the MaLigue 2 site. He is obviously a little frustrated to have been landed last December when ASSE had just suffered 5 defeats in a row in the championship as well as an elimination in the cup of France against Nîmes (National club). Disappointed at not having been able to complete the project, Batlles “ resource » to forget this failure while questioning oneself. Since then, he has digested his disappointment and this is all the more the case as his former players contacted him to involve him in the club’s comeback.
« I have had a lot of messages from my former players. I can tell you that most of the players who are in this squad today, I went out of my way to get them, sometimes against the advice of many people and they know it. Of course I’m happy that the club is coming back, I still live in Saint-Étienne, I’m happy for them too. There are players who have had difficult times but we have links with some who will be bonds for life. Many have sent me messages and through this interview today, I am passing the buck back to them because it is also thanks to them that I have had some very good times as a coach and some not so good ones. also but that’s part of life “, he confided. Enough to prove the importance of Batlles in the end of the season for the Greens, who also benefited from a good transfer window in January with the arrival of the Augsburg duo Mbuku-Cardona who was essential for Dall’Oglio.
