This Wednesday morning, almost as if nothing had happened, Stéphane Ruffier first warmed up with André Biancarelli, the new coach of the goalkeepers of the Greens. As a symbol, the latter was one of Ruffier’s first coaches in Monaco. He joined ASSE a few days ago, after the departure of Fabrice Grange, a close friend of the porter, by “mutual agreement” with the club. In the evening, according to several witnesses on the spot, when he intended to attend the friendly match between ASSE and Charleroi (where he was not retained in the group) at Etrat, the training center of the Greens, Stéphane Ruffier was denied entry.
This decision is explained by his layoff, as a precaution, decided Monday by the club. He is accused of being late for training. The porter, under contract until June 2021, must be received by his management on July 22. Between ASSE and Ruffier, the club’s biggest salary (around 2.6 million euros per year) the point of no return seems to have been reached since Claude Puel’s decision to put him on the bench during the reception of Reims , February 23, 2020.
The technician was disappointed with certain services and in particular the game at the foot of his goalkeeper. He wanted, at the start, to “rest” one or two games. The Basque has almost missed no meeting with the Greens since his arrival at the club in 2011. But the reactions, particularly virulent, of Ruffier and his relatives after his sidelining have broken the link. Since then, relations between Ruffier and Puel have been icy.
“The coach does not play a double game”
The management of the Stéphane coach is, moreover, sometimes misunderstood by some of his players. In particular former executives of Jean-Louis Gasset, ex-coach of the Greens. “Claude puts everyone on an equal footing. With him there is no status. There is no salary. He’s the best who plays. Point. It always worked like that, notes a close friend of the club. Only, at 30, some do not understand that they are spoken to as when they were 18. Or also that we don’t talk to them enough. “
Claude Puel was sometimes able to arouse tensions. Misunderstandings. On some choices. On his method. But without it breaking. The vast majority of players praise the professionalism of their coach. His requirement and his honesty too. “The coach has only one obsession, the best of the team, of the club. We know it. He doesn’t do that to lather, to make himself look good. He is not playing a double game, ”breathes a player who was sometimes challenged by certain Puel’s choices in recent months. Can the Ruffier case change the game? It is still too early to tell. But it is obvious that Saint-Etienne is not preparing its final of the Coupe de France against PSG, on July 24, in the best conditions…
