2023-10-09 19:26:00
Stéphane Ruffier decided to contest his dismissal on Monday for “serious misconduct”. The goalkeeper is therefore claiming more than 7 million euros in compensation from ASSE before the Saint-Etienne industrial tribunal. The former Greens doorman, represented by his lawyer, Me Dorothée Bisaccia-Bernstein, pleaded “moral harassment”, denouncing his employer’s desire to “isolate” him until the termination of his employment contract.
The Basque goalkeeper was fired at the end of December 2020, six months before his term, following calls to order and disciplinary sanctions for insubordination – lateness for training, leaving the club without authorization, non-wearing mask during covid. The club hopes to put an end to its “exorbitant financial claims which cumulatively amount to 7.12 million euros”, including the various damages linked in particular to disciplinary sanctions, moral harassment, professional damage, according to club lawyer Olivier Martin.
A salary which rose to 275,000 euros
“An order to pay such an amount would be a catastrophe for the club,” he said. ASSE is currently playing in L2, with a budget of 27 million euros for the current season. “If serious misconduct was not recognized as a basis for dismissal, Ruffier should only be able to claim payment of the last six months of his basic salary, i.e. 540,000 euros,” he said, specifying that his salary monthly “was 90,000 euros, but which at the end of an amendment to his contract rose to 275,000 euros with all his bonuses”.
Ruffier wore the colors of Saint-Etienne for nine years before his sporting situation deteriorated in Forez, following the arrival of manager Claude Puel. His contract with the Greens was officially terminated on January 4. To date, he is the goalkeeper who has played the most with the Greens in Ligue 1 (383 matches), ahead of the legendary Ivan Curkovic.
He “was a very great player, but the collective is not his thing. He stopped his career in 2021 as he intended,” Mr. Martin told the audience. “A big guy, 1.90 meters tall and heavily tattooed, who is being persecuted may come as a surprise,” agreed Mr. Bisaccia-Bernstein, describing ASSE as “an all-powerful employer.”
Demolition company
The lawyer spoke of a “long period of moral harassment carried out by coach Claude Puel and general manager Xavier Thuilot, who had the mission of reducing the payroll and firing the players who cost the most”. For her, Stéphane Ruffier underwent “a demolition company”, “a campaign of undermining” and he “ended up stopping football following having his face bashed in”.
Stéphane Ruffier (ASSE), during the reception of OM in Ligue 1 – 05/02/2020
Credit: Getty Images
In response, the club’s lawyer accused the goalkeeper, named several times by the UNFP “best goalkeeper in Ligue 1” of having abused his status as the darling of ASSE supporters. He spoke of “refractory behavior in perfect opposition to the coach’s directives from February 2020”. “Emperor Ruffier deliberately arrives late for training to show who is boss,” he pointed out.
“It is Stéphane Ruffier who triggers the controversy with a press campaign led by his agent Patrick Glanz aimed at destroying ASSE. Because from the height of his inordinate ego he might not bear to be a substitute during a match”, a- he said. To support his remarks, he assured that “Didier Deschamps, who wanted to select him for the French team, had suffered a refusal from the player who was not sure of being the starter”.
The industrial tribunal, which will notably have to assess whether the sidelining of the Basque goalkeeper by Claude Puel results from a sporting or extra-professional choice, will render its decision on January 15.
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