L’Equipe offers a series of articles where they highlight the cities that host clubs for summer camps. The opportunity to recall an anecdote concerning AS Saint-Etienne. Extracts.
“July 2008. The Greens qualified for the club’s first European Cup in twenty-six years, but when they boarded the minibuses to go to Chambon-sur-Lignon (Haute-Loire), the atmosphere is damn gloomy.
In question, a problem of bonuses promised by Roland Romeyer but which have not been paid. Guillaume Chazot: “In the middle of the camp, a player came to see me and said, ‘Guillaume, you’re going to give us the keys to the minibuses. We’re going, don’t worry, the bags are empty but we’re going. Then the steward also asks me for the keys. I’m in between, I don’t know what to do. Roland Romeyer arrives furiously. There’s a big meeting. »
A surreal meeting, the content of which is detailed in the book Derrière la porte verte (2021) by our colleague Bernard Lions:
“- President, we had agreed on a bonus of €75,000.
– Yes, but it was for the whole group.
– What ? €2,000 per player when it has been twenty-six years since the club last played in the European Cup?
– Yes, that is what was agreed.
– You are a liar.
– This is a problem of interpretation. »
A framework may well show a paper signed by the players and the president stating that each player would receive €75,000, the latter does not budge. The Stéphanois therefore take the minibuses and leave the course. Romeyer eventually manages to catch up with them with his own vehicle and cuts them off. He ends up giving in on the bonuses and the players will return to Le Chambon. They will even reach the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup.”
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