Geoffroy-Guichard Mark II?
By: Jonathan | August 13th, 2008St Etienne could move to a new stadium in the next few years, according to club president Bernard Caïazzo. In an interview with local paper Le Progrès, he said it would be better to start from scratch than to redevelop the current arena, the legendary Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. “It’s difficult to turn old into new and we can’t play 2-3 seasons in front of 20,000 spectators while the stadium turns into a building site,” he said. “We already need special permission to play our European games there.”
The only sticking point is the usual one – money. Who would pay for a new stadium? Geoffroy-Guichard (nicknamed “The Cauldron”), originally built in 1930 and renovated for the European Championships in 1984 and the World Cup in 1998, belongs to the local authority. Asking taxpayers to foot the bill is out of the question, and for the time being at least, there is no sign of a private investor.
If the club were to get a bigger venue, filling it would not be a problem. St Etienne are one of the best-supported clubs in France and have more than 17,000 season ticket holders. Geoffroy-Guichard currently holds over 35,000 fans – but in the mid-80s, before all-seater stadia became the norm, attendances were close to 50,000.
Category: St Etienne Team News
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
Welcome Johnathan from the France Offside page!
Posted from
United States
-
i wish this club could come back to its former glory days
Posted from
United States -
Thanks Corey! I look forward to contributing. Hoping St Etienne can push on and improve on last season’s fifth place – but the 1-0 defeat against Valenciennes (dodgy refereeing decision for the penalty) was not a good start!
Posted from
United States
Comments are closed
Home 
