Marked for Richy
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Valenciennes; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$1.9M on the table at US Creteil. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Koffi Djidji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Rennais have kept their man, and Chamois Niortais go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Richy
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Chamois Niortais will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The formation has left Martín Payero behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Chamois Niortais will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Baptiste Macon
“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 dugout19 Jul 2027
François Baron 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 Chamois Niortais, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Jul 2027
The Louis Louis story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Louis Louis signs something — a contract at Chamois Niortais or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chamois Niortais people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Jun 2027
Alexandre Huet has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chamois Niortais they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nicolas Nguyen had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad7 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chamois Niortais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Chamois Niortais asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Jun 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Richy out for 31 days
The medical room confirms 31 days on the sidelines for Richy, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Alexandre Huet has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chamois Niortais they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chamois Niortais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Richy out for 60 days
The medical room confirms 60 days on the sidelines for Richy, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes Maxime Spano a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chamois Niortais. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad10 May 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.