Doesn’t seem to get much attention and is usually dismissed as a one horse race farmers league. I don’t think it even has any coverage in the UK now. Think I read even TNT ditched it after Mbappe left for Madrid.

Anyway, I went to Nice for a weekend break with my wife and it just happened that Nice were at Monaco in the local derby on the Saturday night. A late 21:05 kick off. I was a bit surprised my wife was up for going, and after being told getting tickets would not be difficult (the waiter we asked said Monaco is the only club where everyone knows the colour of the seats) we bought a couple and went along.

Match was entertaining but a bit short on quality. Nice lost 2-1, deservedly so, but their support bowled me over.

The atmosphere was very different to what we get here, but I really liked it. The singing/chanting was fantastic. And going back to Nice on the late train rammed with their ultras was fun. They seem to have a real bond and camaraderie that I feel has greatly diminished over the years here.

I also understand that they’re not very happy about being victims of that Jim Ratcliffe bloke who’s doing weird sh*t at United.

It somehow seems almost wrong to get a soft spot for a team that doesn’t wear blue and even has an (unwanted) connection to Man Utd, but Issa Nissa!

Oh, and there were three former Blues on the park. Marcin Bulka and Jeremie Boga for Nice and Denis Zakaria for Monaco. Not that any of them played very much for us.

2 hours ago, Snedger said:

Doesn’t seem to get much attention and is usually dismissed as a one horse race farmers league. I don’t think it even has any coverage in the UK now. Think I read even TNT ditched it after Mbappe left for Madrid.

Anyway, I went to Nice for a weekend break with my wife and it just happened that Nice were at Monaco in the local derby on the Saturday night. A late 21:05 kick off. I was a bit surprised my wife was up for going, and after being told getting tickets would not be difficult (the waiter we asked said Monaco is the only club where everyone knows the colour of the seats) we bought a couple and went along.

Match was entertaining but a bit short on quality. Nice lost 2-1, deservedly so, but their support bowled me over.

The atmosphere was very different to what we get here, but I really liked it. The singing/chanting was fantastic. And going back to Nice on the late train rammed with their ultras was fun. They seem to have a real bond and camaraderie that I feel has greatly diminished over the years here.

I also understand that they’re not very happy about being victims of that Jim Ratcliffe bloke who’s doing weird sh*t at United.

It somehow seems almost wrong to get a soft spot for a team that doesn’t wear blue and even has an (unwanted) connection to Man Utd, but Issa Nissa!

Oh, and there were three former Blues on the park. Marcin Bulka and Jeremie Boga for Nice and Denis Zakaria for Monaco. Not that any of them played very much for us.

Boga scored in this game right? He was one of the most talented players I have seen step through the academy. He made it look so easy. His close ball control and dribbling was a joy. I remember when he played for our U18 in a game whilst he was 14 and he was streets ahead and just looked class. Injuries stunted his progress, however I genuinely believe had it not been for injuries, he would be at a higher level. His technical ability and his low centre of gravity was phenomenal. I remember when he was given his real breakthrough and made his full debut for us against Burnley and Cahill got sent off and it ruined everything and after that he did not get a chance. This was during a period where it was very rare to see academy players break through. But I defo would say he was one of the, if not the most talented players I have seen in our youth teams.

St Etienne were ‘narrowly hammered!’😀 6-1 at home by PSG on Saturday.

St Etienne are the French team I’ve always had an interest in.

9 hours ago, STATS said:

Boga scored in this game right?

He did and he seemed quite popular with their support. But I also think he'd just come back from an injury.

4 hours ago, erskblue said:

St Etienne were ‘narrowly hammered!’😀 6-1 at home by PSG on Saturday.

St Etienne are the French team I’ve always had an interest in.

I remember I had some interest in Racing Club Paris back in the mid 80s after they became quite glamourous signing players like Pierre Littbarski and Enzo Francescoli. They had a cool kit too. But in those days, it was far from easy to slightly follow the fortunes of overseas teams. St Etienne were also very exotic at that time, recent European Cup finalists, their awesome green Le Coq Sportif kit and having had Platini there before his move to Juventus.

I'd love to go back and catch another OGC game. From what I can make out, tickets are only 9 euros. That can't possibly be right can it?

Snedger: My interest in St Etienne started in the mid 1970s, when as a youngster I was just getting interested in football.

I actually had the Shoot team photos of Chelsea, Rangers and St Etienne on my wall!

They had, as you rightly mention. Platini before he moved to Juventus. They also had the brilliant (in my humble opinion!😀) Dominique Rocheteau and they signed Jonny Rep in 1979.

They did have the iconic Le Coq Sportif Green strip back then.

My old man couldn’t believe I liked a team wearing Green and white!😀

Edited April 3, 20251 yr by erskblue

The brilliant Dominique Rocheateau of St Etienne in action. Think it’s Joey Jones in opposition.

We won’t mention the score in that game!

St Etienne went down 1-0 away to Lens. Now 17th and three points away from Reims and safety in 16th.

Strasbourg up to 4th.

On 02/04/2025 at 12:13, STATS said:

Boga scored in this game right? He was one of the most talented players I have seen step through the academy. He made it look so easy. His close ball control and dribbling was a joy. I remember when he played for our U18 in a game whilst he was 14 and he was streets ahead and just looked class. Injuries stunted his progress, however I genuinely believe had it not been for injuries, he would be at a higher level. His technical ability and his low centre of gravity was phenomenal. I remember when he was given his real breakthrough and made his full debut for us against Burnley and Cahill got sent off and it ruined everything and after that he did not get a chance. This was during a period where it was very rare to see academy players break through. But I defo would say he was one of the, if not the most talented players I have seen in our youth teams.

Boga was one of my favourites but I think you might be confusing him a little with Charly Musonda? Injuries have only been a recent thing for Boga. He just never really took off when loaned out by Chelsea. Had a very average loan spell getting kicked in the Championship and we ended up jettisoning him to Sassuolo for cheap. Boga was never really used by Conte, he got hooked the first game of the season when Cahill got sent off against Burnley and then had an amazing game vs Arsenal, but just fizzled out.

13 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Boga was one of my favourites but I think you might be confusing him a little with Charly Musonda? Injuries have only been a recent thing for Boga. He just never really took off when loaned out by Chelsea. Had a very average loan spell getting kicked in the Championship and we ended up jettisoning him to Sassuolo for cheap. Boga was never really used by Conte, he got hooked the first game of the season when Cahill got sent off against Burnley and then had an amazing game vs Arsenal, but just fizzled out.

No, defo talking about Boga. Musonda was very talented also but his real breakthrough against Forest and scored but bad loans and injuries especially messed him up. Even at us Boga, used to get injured. Not as much as he got older. Yes, Conte did not really use youngsters at all. He played older Chalobah a bit but mainly subs. Musonda was good. Very slight and decent balance, however Boga was much more physically developed. Musonda started off brilliantly on loan at Betis and looked a star in first few games but then either injuries and form, he never really kicked on.

Musonda joined us when he 16 I believe. Boga was playing for us at the age of 14. Boga still produces moments of magic but I loved watching him. Musonda, I believe is sadly without a club. I remember when he scored his first goal for us. He was in tears. Was such a moment for him. He loved football too and it is a shame he had several spates of injuries. A couple serious ones.

On 07/04/2025 at 00:16, OneTommyLangley said:

Strasbourg up to 4th.

Well done to them! St Etienne can only dream of 4th Place!!😀

I’ll be delighted if St Etienne get to ‘the dizzy heights’ of 14th by the end of the season!😀😀

Strasbourg are only a point off 3rd spot and 3 points off second spot at the moment!

It could very well be a great League season for them!

Edited April 8, 20251 yr by erskblue

St Etienne drew 3-3 at home with Brest (in 8th place) on Saturday.

Still second bottom and three points below Le Harve

Looks like Strasbourg conceded an equaliser with pretty much the last kick of the game in the 2-2 vs Nice ? 4 minutes of added time, and the Nice 2nd goal scored at 90+4 minutes.

Shame - they'd have been one point off 2nd if they'd held on for the win.

Two more assists to chalk up for Andrey Santos though !

Edited April 16, 20251 yr by Sexyfootball

St Etienne beat Lyon 2-1 yesterday to pull themselves up to being equal on points with Le Harve , who with a better goal difference of four remain above St Etienne in 16th place.

However, the match was sadly marred by trouble.

The Ligue 1 match between local rivals Saint-Etienne and Lyon was suspended for around 40 minutes after an assistant referee was hit by an object thrown from the stands.

Visitors Lyon, trailing 1-0, were about to take a 44th-minute throw-in when Mehdi Rahmouni held his head after being hit by something.

French newspaper L'Equipe said Rahmouni had been hit by a coin thrown from the stands.

Lyon's medical team treated Rahmouni before referee Francois Letexier led the players and officials left the pitch.

Play did eventually resume after a lengthy break, with Saint-Etienne going on to win 2-1.

"We're going to restart the game because the assistant referee feels up to restarting," Noel Mannino, the league matchday representative, told AFP.

"At the next incident, the match will be stopped for good."

Lyon fans were banned from travelling to the match because of previous incidents.

Saint-Etienne had previously been threatened with having two ends of the ground closed after recent "massive use of pyrotechnic devices and verbal abuse".

In March, their match at Montpellier was abandoned after home fans threw flares on to the pitch and part of a stand caught fire.

On 03/04/2025 at 05:33, erskblue said:

Snedger: My interest in St Etienne started in the mid 1970s, when as a youngster I was just getting interested in football.

I actually had the Shoot team photos of Chelsea, Rangers and St Etienne on my wall!

They had, as you rightly mention. Platini before he moved to Juventus. They also had the brilliant (in my humble opinion!😀) Dominique Rocheteau and they signed Jonny Rep in 1979.

They did have the iconic Le Coq Sportif Green strip back then.

My old man couldn’t believe I liked a team wearing Green and white!😀

If that's the same Rocheteau who played for France then yes, he was absolutely brilliant and great to watch. .

5 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

If that's the same Rocheteau who played for France then yes, he was absolutely brilliant and great to watch. .

The Rising Sun. Yes, it’s the very same Rocheteau. Agree with you 100% he was an outstanding player.

Goodness knows what he’d be valued at in today’s transfer market?

St Etienne went down 3-1 away to Strasbourg. St Etienne are still second bottom.

Strasbourg are in 5th place.

Actually quite interesting to watch the run-in to the end of the Ligue 1 season. It's so tight for the Champions League places, even more so than the PL !

Strasbourg did themselves a lot of favours with a 2-1 against PSG's 2nd string today. but I can see their goal difference being a factor come the end of the season - they are comfortably shy of all the teams around them on that.

Strasbourg could probably do with Lille vs Marseilles being a draw tomorrow, and they will definitely need to win their last two fixtures to have a chance of CL (both very winnable against teams near the bottom)

Edited May 3, 20251 yr by Sexyfootball

St Etienne went down 3-1 at home to Monaco yesterday.

Still in 17th Place, one point behind Le Havre.

Edited May 4, 20251 yr by erskblue

Bad timing for a 2-1 defeat to Angers for Strasbourg yesterday. Probably shot their Champions League spot with that.

Marseilles and Monaco have secured the remaining automatic places, so it is now a scrap between Nice, Lille and Strasbourg for the remaining spot (into the CL qualifying round) - all on 57 points with one match to go. Strasbourg well behind on goal difference which is now a massive inhibitor for them.

Got Le Havre at home in final game, so could also do Erskblue a favour for St Etienne by winning this one !

8 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

Bad timing for a 2-1 defeat to Angers for Strasbourg yesterday. Probably shot their Champions League spot with that.

Marseilles and Monaco have secured the remaining automatic places, so it is now a scrap between Nice, Lille and Strasbourg for the remaining spot (into the CL qualifying round) - all on 57 points with one match to go. Strasbourg well behind on goal difference which is now a massive inhibitor for them.

Got Le Havre at home in final game, so could also do Erskblue a favour for St Etienne by winning this one !

That would be great if Strasbourg beat Le Havre in the final game. If they did, Strasbourg would instantly become my second favourite French club side!😀

Mind you St Etienne still have to win against Toulouse!

Edited May 11, 20251 yr by erskblue

St Etienne went down 3-2 at home last night and have been relegated to Ligue 2.

I’ll keep an eye on the Strasbourg results in Ligue 1 next season.

And tonight's breaking news is that Lyon have been demoted to Ligue 2 off the back of their dire finances ... despite recent sales of Cherki etc

21 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

And tonight's breaking news is that Lyon have been demoted to Ligue 2 off the back of their dire finances ... despite recent sales of Cherki etc

Wonder if Lyon being demoted to Ligue 2 means St Etienne are back in Ligue 1 ?

25 minutes ago, erskblue said:

Wonder if Lyon being demoted to Ligue 2 means St Etienne are back in Ligue 1 ?

I'm afraid not !

"Lyon have the right to appeal against the decision. Should it stand, Lyon will be replaced in the top flight by Reims, who were beaten in the relegation play-off by Metz."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cy7ng4vj8leo