Born in Dundee, Scotland, Ian Cathro turned to coaching at a very young age. After a playing career cut short by injury, he founded his own coaching structure, the Cathro Clinic, as a teenager, with an approach focused on technical development, creativity, and the individual progression of players.

His career quickly took on an international dimension. After working in youth development at Dundee United, he moved to Portugal and joined Nuno Espírito Santo's staff at Rio Ave, whom they led to the finals of both the Portuguese Cup and the League Cup in the same season, qualifying them for their first-ever European campaign. This first experience marked the beginning of his international career.

At Valencia, Ian Cathro was part of Nuno Espírito Santo's staff during a successful season, culminating in a fourth-place finish in La Liga and qualification for the Champions League. He then experienced the demands of English football at Newcastle United, where he worked under Steve McClaren and then Rafael Benítez, before reuniting with Nuno Espírito Santo at Wolverhampton Wanderers and then Tottenham Hotspur, and continuing his international journey with a stint at Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be someone who spends 75 minutes on the edge of their own box to see if we get a transition and score from a corner. I would struggle to be the best guy for that job. If I see somebody defending and lets the other team make 25 passes before they lay a glove on them, I’ll get bored and change the channel.

“We’ve built a clear approach to how we play here, which was less based on playing beautifully – as was described in that [citation] – and more about playing without fear. Because this club has lived constantly with the fear of being relegated. And what I wanted to build was the way we work every day, the way that we approach the game and the way we play is completely fearless to try and detach from the feeling like you’re playing to stay up.”

Ian Cathro, the new ASSE coach: "I know that AS Saint-Étienne is a unique club, with very high expectations and a particular responsibility towards its supporters. What attracts me here is the opportunity to build something clear: a team that knows what it wants to do, that works with intensity, that helps players develop, and that moves forward with courage. There is a lot of energy surrounding this club. Our role will be to transform that into hard work, high standards, and progress on the pitch."

Ivan Gazidis, president of ASSE: "Ian has forged a unique career path. He doesn't arrive with a conventional trajectory, but with a wealth of experience in coaching, player development, and various football cultures. We were particularly impressed by his ability to give a team a clear direction, to help players progress, and to create a demanding working environment. At Estoril, he showed that he could move a club forward with method, identity, and stability. This is precisely what we want to establish at AS Saint-Étienne."

"He's very well coached: he has international experience, he spent many years with Nuno Espírito Santo, he's been in Saudi Arabia, in England, in the Premier League, an important stage of his experience. And in Portugal, he leaves his mark, whether in communication, from a social point of view, or in the countryside. And the team has its mark there. (...) They've found a stable platform in which they develop a style of play that isn't simply beautiful. But they really play well, they're enjoyable to watch, and they can achieve good results even against the big teams."

To the fans, partners, and the entire AS Saint-Étienne community,

In over thirty years in professional sports, I've learned that lasting success is rarely built on immediate reactions. It rests on stability, patience, investment, and the ability to stay true to a course, even when progress isn't immediate. I experienced this firsthand with the Toronto Raptors and Toronto FC. In both cases, major achievements only came after several years of hard work and continuity within the organization.

This experience reinforces my conviction today. A shareholder's responsibility is not to react to every event, much less to every emotion. Rather, it is to provide direction, offer the necessary resources, and guarantee stability, while ensuring that the club is led by competent individuals who share a common vision for its future.

When Kilmer Sports Ventures invested in Saint-Étienne, we did so with a long-term vision. We came to help build a club capable of sustainably returning to success, based on solid governance, consistent choices, and a strong identity.

ASSE is a huge club, with a unique history and a special place in French football. But when we arrived, the club didn't yet have, in all areas, the standards we collectively want and need to set for it. In-depth structural work is necessary to strengthen the foundations of a modern, stable, and successful club.

This is the work that is underway today. It isn't always visible, and it doesn't always translate immediately into results. I fully understand that talking about the medium and long term can be difficult and even frustrating for you, especially after a sporting disappointment. But this is how strong organizations are built.

At AS Saint-Étienne, I firmly believe we have the foundation to build something strong and lasting. We can rely on talented and dedicated men and women at every level of the club, and we remain focused on strengthening ASSE in every area. Like any ambitious sports organization, we must continue to learn, progress, and set the highest standards for ourselves. We also undoubtedly need to better explain our vision and the work underway to support the club's long-term development.

Our commitment to AS Saint-Étienne is unwavering. We are here because this club is unique: because of its history, its supporters, its stadium, its city, and its place in French football. We know what ASSE represents, both on the pitch and in the life of this city and region, and we fully understand the responsibility that this entails.

The road ahead demands ambition, but also consistency. It requires believing in a long-term project and having the discipline to see it through. These principles have guided me throughout my career in sports, and they will continue to guide our work at AS Saint-Étienne.

We are here for the long haul. We remain committed to this club, to you, its supporters, its partners, and to its future.

Go Greens!

Larry Tanenbaum

Officer of the Order of Canada

Shareholder of AS Saint-Étienne

AS Saint-Étienne confirms that the club and its head coach, Eirik Horneland, have mutually agreed to end their collaboration, effective this Sunday, February 1st.

Eirik Horneland took over the first team during a period of profound transformation for Les Verts. The impact of his contribution to this transformation has been significant, extending far beyond the pitch and the 43 matches he managed with the first team.

The club wishes to express its deep gratitude for the human qualities that Eirik demonstrated every day at the training ground. His integrity, as well as the sincerity and warmth of the relationships he forged within the club, leave a positive and lasting mark on the institution.

Message from President Ivan Gazidis: “I would like to thank Eirik for his tireless work and professionalism. Eirik is a coach who deeply understands the weight and history of this jersey.” Throughout his time at the club, he worked with dedication and a level of daily commitment that earned him the respect of everyone at the training center. He, Andrea, and Hassan leave the club with our sincere thanks and best wishes for their future success.

Message from Eirik Horneland: “It has been an immense privilege to work for this club, an experience that will stay with me for life. I worked every day with deep respect for what ASSE represents for this city and its supporters. I thank the players for their commitment, the staff for their unwavering support, the fans for their unique passion, and the management for the trust and support they have given me. While my journey ends here, I leave with great pride to have coached this club. I will always remain a supporter of AS Saint-Étienne and wish them every success in the future.”

The 529th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Report ranks this week the clubs that have produced the most players currently playing in the top five European leagues (Germany, England, Spain, Italy, France). AS Saint-Étienne and its youth academy stand out in this ranking!

Since January 1, 2016, AS Saint-Étienne is the 7th European club to have produced the most talented players (63) who have played in the top five leagues, just ahead of Bayern Munich (62) and Ajax Amsterdam (61), and trailing only Barcelona (109), Real Madrid (108), Manchester United (73), and three French clubs.

In France and over the same period, only Paris SG (89), Lyon (73) and Rennes (67) produced more players, but only Paris SG fielded more in its own team (43) than ASSE (42) before seeing them defend other colors.

The year 2025 marks a turning point for AS Saint-Étienne economically. Kilmer Sports Ventures, the sole owner of ASSE, is continuing its intensive investment policy. After an initial major investment in early January (€31 million injected), a new capital increase was formalized on June 6th for an amount of €36.5 million.

In total, €67,578,496 was invested directly into the club's equity in just a few months. The share capital of ASSE Groupe, the club's parent company, thus increased from €2.3 million to nearly €70 million. This spectacular leap reflects the Canadian group's commitment to establishing the Saint-Étienne project on solid financial foundations.

Leleu joins ASSE today in a key role: that of post-training scout. This specific segment of recruitment concerns players aged 18 to 21, often fresh out of their youth academy and seeking their first real professional exposure. This is a pivotal period where casting errors are common, but where success can be rewarding for a club like ASSE, which is keen to unearth young talent.

Designed by Saint-Étienne designer Léa Bourgier, in collaboration with the Cité du Design, which is currently buzzing with the final days of the 13th International Design Biennale, this jersey embodies the history, memory, and identity of Saint-Étienne.

Five lines of pictograms created by the vu-huu studio for the Cité du Design's new graphic identity recount a shared heritage on both sides of the jersey. From ribbon-making, an iconic Saint-Étienne skill, to mining, a pillar of its collective history, to the buildings of the Cité du Design, located on the site of the former arms factory, to transportation and bicycles, linked to its industrial history, as well as, of course, the star-studded club, all the strong markers of Saint-Étienne's identity adorn the front and back of the new Greens jersey.

This jersey also features a striking new feature: white sleeves. Beyond the light and modern touch they bring, they feature the architectural motifs of the Platine, the emblematic building of the Cité du Design, transformed here into a link between history and creation with a graphic ribbon.

True to its "Vert l'Avenir" CSR approach, the club is pleased to count on hummel, its kit supplier who shares its commitment to the environment. This new jersey is, as always with hummel, manufactured using special ECO8 technology. Each jersey is made from a high-performance polyester produced from eight recycled plastic bottles.

During the final years of the Caïazzo-Romeyer duo, the club has inevitably adopted a short-term strategy, not hesitating to cut back on its B2B revenues, notably through the famous deal with Sportfive, for example. This allowed it to quickly recover cash (editor's note: just under €10 million) while also impacting its revenues over several years. Kilmer Sports Ventures' takeover of the club follows a diametrically opposed approach. The objective is to invest in order to ensure the club's long-term sustainability.

This strategy is embodied by the purchase of the club's commercial rights from Sportfive for approximately €10 million. This is done in order to regain full control of partnership contracts and, therefore, the resulting revenues. Not only that, but the new owners of ASSE have undertaken work at the Robert-Herbin Sports Center to modernize and optimize the available buildings. An audit was conducted during the season to identify areas for improvement at the Training Center in this area.

ASSE Groupe carried out a capital increase at the beginning of the year through Kilmer Green Acquisition Company. This significant increase amounted to €31,078,496, bringing the simplified joint-stock company's capital from €2,305,648 to €33,384,144, more than 14 times its previous amount.

"What's important is our style" (Eirik Horneland on his arrival at ASSE)
"We need a lot of discipline, of course, we're going to work a lot like all the teams. After that, what's important is our style, what we're going to put in place. The organization, but also our ability to play a defensive game. Above all, we want to be a very active team. A team that goes on the offensive very quickly. While also playing well defensively. I think we can do that thanks to the support we're going to receive from the Stade. First, we're going to look at each player. The goal is to get the best out of each one individually. Then it's all the plans that we put in place at team level.

"My goal is to do real team work"
Over time, we should see an improvement, a development of the style of play that we're putting in place. At the start, I'm going to work mainly day by day. We will have to put in place discipline, a work ethic that we will have to instill in the whole team. Once that is in place, we will be able to seek to develop. That is where I hope that observers will begin to see a clear identity. A team that necessarily has a style of play that we recognize. The two are a pair, the reputation, what has shown but also the style of play.

Eirik Horneland: "My goal is to work with the existing team, to do real collective work. I am convinced that we already have some players in the team with very great technical abilities. By relying on that, by allowing each player to work in a combined way with his teammates, I think that this will allow

Once back in Eliteserien, his game based on an offensive and intense 4-3-3 worked right away. His idea is simple, to offer beautiful play, relying on a lot of ball possession to control the game.

Defensively, Eirik Horneland likes teams capable of aggressive and well-coordinated pressing. In Brann, the players would go high to seek out the opposing defenders to prevent restarts and cut the passing lines. This requires a lot of collective work upstream and good collective consistency.

THE NORWEGIAN EIRIK HORNELAND SHOULD SUCCEED OLIVIER DALL'OGLIO.

An agreement in principle has reportedly been reached between all parties regarding the contract. Only a few details remain to be finalised before the club officially confirms the appointment of its new coach.

@le_Parisien

Ivan Gazidis, President of ASSE: "We would like to thank Olivier Dall'Oglio for everything he has brought to AS Saint-Étienne, and in particular for the central role he played in the club's rise to Ligue 1. With all of the Green People, supporters, employees and players, we will remember this success that has marked the club, as well as Olivier's human qualities. We wish him, as well as Grégory Pérès, the best for the rest of their careers."

Olivier Dall'Oglio: "I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for the warm welcome received since my arrival with my assistant Grégory Pérès, from the management, all of the employees and the Saint-Étienne supporters. I am very happy and lucky to have lived an intense year in this legendary club, with an incredible rise, rich in emotions, sharing, joy... I will never forget this intense energy released by the Green People in this boiling Cauldron, but also everywhere in the country. To all the people who showed me their attention, their affection, their support, for want of being able to answer them individually, I say to them from the bottom of my heart "Infinitely Thank You", PROUD TO BE GREEN!