ASSE won for the first time this season against Lille. A victory commented by Patrick Guillou and Sylvain (Peuple Vert) in the latest edition of the Sainté Night Club. They return in particular to the case of the triumvirate composed of Jean-François Soucasse, Samuel Rustem and Loïc Perrin. Excerpts.
Kilmer’s strategy for ASSE tied up?
Patrick Guillou (ex-ASSE): “At some point, you have to open your eyes to what he is. I don’t hold the truth, I don’t have that pretension. But at some point, when you enter into a strategy like Kilmer is doing, things are obvious. I think that the fact that Saint-Etienne is moving up to line 1 was not planned. It was not budgeted. I wrote it, that’s why I’m saying it again. The way things are going… it’s obvious. Today, the new leaders have much more to lose by getting rid of everyone than if they leave them in place. Today, if they get rid of everyone and there is no result, we will tell them that the method is not good. That they are sharp, that they are cutting off heads.
If it doesn’t work after a year, we can say, but you see, we left them in place. We didn’t sacrifice anyone. You understand, now we are obliged to act. Whereas if it works, we will say that we opted for stability. Everyone stays in place and that’s why we made that choice.
We are facing people who are very intelligent. You just have to read the different interviews. You tell yourself that they really know the ball. They really know the arcades. They really know the ropes of the ball. If you don’t have these reading keys there, you don’t see where they want to take us.
Jean-François Soucasse ideally placed?
Patrick Guillou (ex-ASSE): “Keeping the old triumvirate? It’s the force of current circumstances, of implacable logic. We can discuss the skills of each, but the new leaders don’t know everyone in the authorities. It’s important to have a Jean-François Soucasse. God knows I’ve criticized him, but Jean-François Soucasse is capable of serving as a go-between and then passing the baton. That’s what he did on the Toulouse side. For that, Jean-François is very good. I’ve always said it, and I’ve also said it to Jean-François, he’s a very intelligent person. He knows his files like the back of his hand, but he’s not a boss. This new role, which the new management is currently giving him, suits him perfectly. This is exactly where Jean-François Soucasse is most effective.
Departures already confirmed?
A transition period? When you see such leaders, the financial power, what they are putting in place, the wagons are hooked up one after the other. The current situation as it is of an implacable logic. The times will come. I am not going to betray any secrets. When there are guys at the club who tell you, you have to work now, you fall off the chair. Today, the guys say to themselves if I want to keep my place, I will have to work a little. Suddenly, everything that comes from it because they have the experience, it will happen by domino effect. One and the other, if there is no result, it will be the American way, the Canadian way. If you are not good, you jump. But it will happen.
I saw a sentence where they say that Loïc Perrin is the Paolo Maldini of AS Saint-Étienne. How did Paolo Maldini end up at AC Milan? Look… It’s the very game of the mysteries in football. You have personality problems, you have ego problems, and you have power problems. So it’s going to happen.
We must be happy about this first victory against Lille. We must be happy about the new dynamism, we must be happy about all that. But that doesn’t prevent us from seeing, to go from point A to point B, how those who manage the ship have decided to pull the sail.
