Marked for Stênio
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Aug 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SM Caen have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad18 Aug 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Luc Maillard
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SM Caen lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout18 Aug 2036
Stênio keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SM Caen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Aug 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SM Caen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Conor Gallagher falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom18 Aug 2036
11 academy players handed senior numbers at SM Caen
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2036
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout18 Aug 2036
The manager makes an example of Bryan Ouanda
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market18 Aug 2036
One of our own: Marc Rémy joins the SM Caen first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marc Rémy is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jul 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SM Caen have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Jul 2036
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Jul 2036
Samy Moumni has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SM Caen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2036
The deal with OGC Nice is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Words exchanged at SM Caen
Omari Kellyman and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Conor Gallagher falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad7 Jul 2036
A muscle injury sidelines Ricardo Ribeiro for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. SM Caen will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. US Concarneau have kept their man, and SM Caen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jul 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ricardo Ribeiro commits to SM Caen for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 May 2036
Dominik Zajac hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SM Caen can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 May 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SM Caen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 May 2036
Words at SM Caen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Conor Gallagher is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad19 May 2036
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; SM Caen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad19 May 2036
Words exchanged at SM Caen
Gabriele Baldi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market19 May 2036
Folarin Balogun is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at SM Caen has been clear about where Folarin Balogun stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout19 May 2036
No hiding place for Stênio
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stênio, and the manager let it.
Squad19 May 2036
SM Caen are still strangers to each other
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout19 May 2036
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. SM Caen told Rene Škerget something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Dec 2035
0‑3 to Olympique de Marseille, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
Gabriele Baldi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SM Caen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market31 Dec 2035
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at SM Caen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Dec 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SM Caen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Dec 2035
A row about effort at SM Caen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Conor Gallagher was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Dec 2035
A falling-out at SM Caen
Kaloyan Strinski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Dec 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stênio and SM Caen agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad31 Dec 2035
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Match31 Dec 2035
SM Caen at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 14, 16 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Nov 2035
US Orleans will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. SM Caen were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market26 Nov 2035
Dominik Zajac hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SM Caen can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Nov 2035
Only the photograph left for Alexis Vargas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexis Vargas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SM Caen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match24 Nov 2035
The drought breaks for SM Caen
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and US Orleans were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Boardroom26 Nov 2035
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Marcos Narváez has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad26 Nov 2035
A row about effort at SM Caen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Conor Gallagher was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words exchanged at SM Caen
Kaloyan Strinski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Squad
Yann Arnaud out for 22 days
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Player ratings
One of those days for Stênio
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Oct 2035
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market29 Oct 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SM Caen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market29 Oct 2035
Mateo Alcoba hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SM Caen can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Oct 2035
5 matches without a win for SM Caen
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around SM Caen are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom29 Oct 2035
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Rio Mundle has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Words exchanged at SM Caen
Kaloyan Strinski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Words at SM Caen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omari Kellyman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Stênio wants to go home
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SM Caen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match27 Oct 2035
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Sep 2035
Alexis Vargas has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SM Caen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom24 Sep 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alexis Vargas has agreed terms with OGC Nice for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad24 Sep 2035
A row about effort at SM Caen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Conor Gallagher was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Kaloyan Strinski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
The manager makes an example of Stênio
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
Jean-Luc Leroux has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at SM Caen will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
Half-satisfied: Rémi Olivier on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
Gabriele Baldi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SM Caen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Sep 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around SM Caen people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match1 Sep 2035
Nowhere to hide for SM Caen
0‑5 against AS Saint-Etienne, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market3 Sep 2035
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Joe Buršík had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $244.9K of what SM Caen paid for Yanis Sellami is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Market3 Sep 2035
Mateo Alcoba hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SM Caen can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2035
Fee done, terms next for Michel Carré
SM Caen and Olympique Lyonnais have settled on $460.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Stênio arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Stênio has, at SM Caen, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market3 Sep 2035
Only the photograph left for Vito Težak
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vito Težak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SM Caen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match1 Sep 2035
The wait goes on for SM Caen
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
In brief
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Boardroom
Window shuts: 39 in, 41 out at SM Caen
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Squad
Words at SM Caen training over how hard people work
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Squad
Tempers go at SM Caen