AS Saint-Etienne has been sanctioned with 6 penalty points, including 3 suspended, after the serious incidents that occurred during the club's relegation to Ligue 2, a heavy sanction applied next season, the Football League announced on Thursday. professional (LFP).
It is a particularly severe decision adopted by the Disciplinary Committee of the LFP, responsible for settling this last disciplinary file of a stormy 2021-2022 season from start to finish in the stands and on the lawns of Ligue 1. a press release, the Saint-Etienne club declared that it would "
not appeal the decision
".
To discover
Calendar and results Ligue 1
League 1 standings
Calendar and results Ligue 2
After having already inflicted point withdrawals, albeit more limited, in Nice or Lyon, the Commission struck hard this time against ASSE after the scenes of chaos at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium at the end of May, during the shoot-out loss goal against Auxerre: invasion of the lawn by angry Greens supporters, then throwing of smoke towards the stands and general jostling.
In addition to this withdrawal of points which risks complicating the objective of an immediate recovery in L1, the club is also sanctioned with six matches behind closed doors, two of which are suspended, which will penalize the club's finances, already very fragile, by depriving it ticket office.
ASSE will therefore start at home without an audience on the weekend of August 6 against Nîmes during the 2nd day of L2.
Under the threat
And the Saint-Etienne team will remain all season under the threat of three additional points withdrawn in the event of new overflows from its supporters, therefore starting the 2022-2023 financial year with a total of negative points.
According to the scale in force, the applicable sanctions could go as far as disqualification and even demotion.
The past months have shown that the Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Sébastien Deneux, no longer hesitates to pronounce very heavy sanctions in the event of serious incidents, such as the withdrawal of points in the classification.
Such as the point cut off in Nice on green carpet after an invasion of the field against Marseille followed by a general fight, a withdrawal which then cost a qualification in the Europa League for the Aiglons, forced to settle for 5th place synonymous with the Europa League Conference .
Or the point withdrawn in Lyon after the incidents at OL-OM, when a jet of plastic bottle from the stands hit Marseille captain Dimitri Payet in the head.
One-upmanship
The penalty points inflicted on AS Saint-Etienne could burden its season, while only the first two of L2 will move up to L1 in May 2023, a handicap that may be crippling for the ambitions of the Saint-Etienne club... but also for the interest lent to the American businessman David Blitzer, candidate according to L'Équipe to take over the Greens.
There remains the question of the real effectiveness of these collective sanctions, while the ultras of Saint-Etienne, repeat offenders, have multiplied the overflows in recent months, each time triggering partial or total closed-door measures.
“
We see it with Saint-Etienne, it's progressing absolutely nothing.
What is the next step ?
Prohibit Saint-Etienne from playing in the Ligue 2 championship?
Close the stands for several seasons?
We are really in one-upmanship
, ”lamented Ronan Evain, general manager of the Football Supporters Europe network (FSE) on Tuesday.
The legal procedure after the excesses of Geoffroy-Guichard, it continues.
Several complaints have been filed, in particular by the club, after these incidents which resulted in around forty minor injuries.
The commercial management of ASSE estimated the amount of damage at 500,000 euros and the metropolis of Saint-Etienne, owner of the stadium, assessed the damage at more than 80,000 euros.
