Pascal Dupraz rails against “acts of war” after the barrage against AJ Auxerre

It took nine days for Pascal Dupraz to break the silence, after the return barrage against AJ Auxerre (1-1, 4-5 on penalties) synonymous with relegation to Ligue 2 for AS Saint-Etienne. The coach of the Greens, at the end of the contract on June 30 and officially replaced by Laurent Batlles, had indeed zapped the post-match conference on May 29, “at the request of the leaders”.

In an interview given to Parisian, he returned to the failure of his maintenance operation over six months. “I knew that the mission was perilous, it was beyond what I imagined”, he specifies straight away. In question in particular according to Pascal Dupraz: “too many young players, too many small engines forcing us to lighten the training sessions”, and “especially the lack of complementarity”.

“You better keep the club, otherwise we smoke you”

The 59-year-old Haut-Savoyard also evokes the boiling context with the ultras from Saint-Etienne, even before what he describes as “acts of war” following the return barrage. Namely these many smoke bombs and fireworks swung everywhere for two minutes, on the lawn and in the stands.

After the game in Lorient [2-6 le 8 avril], supporters followed us. And one of their vehicles even hit our bus on the way to the airport. On the tarmac, I was asked to go talk to the thirty or so guys present. One of them yelled at me ten centimeters from my face: “You jester! You better keep the club going or we’ll smoke you”. This death threat was the trigger to leave the club. »

Pascal Dupraz thus denies having pushed for a contract extension at ASSE, as has been mentioned in the press. Now free, he in turn regrets the dangerous invasion of the field on May 29, which should be heavily sanctioned by the disciplinary committee: “It confirmed to me this climate of terror of a very small minority. In the stands, I saw kids of 6 or 7 years old, invited by the club, screaming in fear in front of the smoke bombs that they caught in the face. What is the next step ? A death on the pretext that the team does not earn enough? This is unacceptable “.