The Geoffroy-Guichard stands can finally breathe. Last Saturday, during the Le Mans reception, a special atmosphere hovered over the Chaudron. If ASSE lost on the field, the Saint-Etienne supporters enjoyed a much more important victory, obtained off the pitch. A sworn enemy of the green people has just been ejected, and the jubilation in the aisles bore witness to this.
This man is Bruno Retailleau, until then Minister of the Interior, who left the government during the recent ministerial reshuffle of October 2025. For the Saint-Etienne ultras, his departure represents historic revenge after months of tensions and confrontations.
The worst enemy of the stands
Bruno Retailleau embodied everything that ASSE supporters hated. At the head of the Ministry of the Interior, he was seen as the architect of the collective sanctions which long muzzled the legendary atmosphere of the Cauldron. Travel bans, drastic security measures, threats of dissolution: supporter groups saw in him the man who wanted to kill popular fervor.
Magic Fans and Green Angels have never forgotten his uncompromising positions which transformed each trip into an administrative obstacle course. For them, Retailleau represented state repression against football passion.
ASSE: symbolic victory for the stands after an unexpected start
A discreet but powerful celebration at ASSE
The message was clear Saturday evening. The flower banners in the stadium carried enigmatic but telling phrases:
“You have to come to see it, I can’t explain it to you”. A subtle way of celebrating this political fall without violating the regulations of footballing authorities.
ASSE supporters consider this departure their biggest victory of the year, perhaps even more important than any sporting result. In a context where the club is going through a complicated sporting period with two consecutive defeats at home, this political satisfaction brings a smile back to the green people.
The Cauldron won its match. Without playing.
