Marked for Corentin Brandy
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 May 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market29 May 2028
Titouan Thomas comes back from a loan that worked
30 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The dugout29 May 2028
Tom Baack gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Corentin Brandy and Stade Lavallois agree another 4 years.
The dugout29 May 2028
Titouan Thomas knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Titouan Thomas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad29 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alpha Diallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 May 2028
Ethan Clavreul has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Stade Lavallois 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.
Market29 May 2028
Stade Lavallois have made Samuel Dié available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad29 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Stade Lavallois would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market6 Mar 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Ethan Mbappé, 21, steals the show — 8.19
Marked 8.19 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match4 Mar 2028
4 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Julien Maggiotti and Stade Lavallois agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Julien Maggiotti 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match4 Mar 2028
1‑2 to Pau FC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The terraces6 Mar 2028
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julien Maggiotti, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Stade Lavallois's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Stade Lavallois has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stade Lavallois may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market13 Dec 2027
“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 Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Thibaut Vargas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match11 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match13 Dec 2027
Position 13, 17 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Corentin Brandy 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.