Marked for Jules Eyraud
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Julien Jacquat breaks a bone — 102 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with LOSC Lille; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market9 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moussa Faty was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Herman Esmel 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yanis Maronne and Le Puy Foot 43 agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A loan enquiry to Le Havre AC: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market9 Aug 2027
The clock runs on Jules Eyraud's contract
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The paperwork begins on Telli Siwe
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Le Puy Foot 43 have done the hard part with AJ Auxerre, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
No deal for Maxi Oyedele at that price
Le Puy Foot 43 offered $600.0K; RC Strasbourg said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Moussa Faty 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 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 Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Yann Diebold 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hermann Tebily 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Stade de Reims: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Le Puy Foot 43 have made the call to RC Strasbourg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Maël Zogba 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 Maël Zogba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jules Eyraud, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Le Puy Foot 43 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Le Puy Foot 43 have done the hard part with FC Nantes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market14 Jun 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 Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Moussa Faty and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AJ Auxerre have kept their man, and Le Puy Foot 43 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Josselin Gromat
“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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan move for Bahmed Deuff is in the works
Le Puy Foot 43 have made the call to FC Nantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Renald Xhemo 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 Le Puy Foot 43, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
A fracture rules Philippe Guérin out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Le Puy Foot 43 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout17 May 2027
Idris Mohamed: 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.” Le Puy Foot 43 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 May 2027
Salim Akkal 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
Idris Mohamed 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 dugout17 May 2027
Maël Zogba 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 Maël Zogba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match20 Feb 2027
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Plamedi Nsingi
16 goals and a season average of 7.30 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match20 Feb 2027
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Yann Diebold 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Salim Akkal 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.52 on the card, and the Le Puy Foot 43 support went home talking about one name.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
No place for Axel Darnaud on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Yann Diebold 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salim Akkal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market9 Nov 2026
Maël Zogba told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Maël Zogba has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Le Puy Foot 43.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Ghalem, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Maël Zogba asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Le Puy Foot 43 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.