Marked for Mathieu Mathieu
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 45. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Louis Carpentier out for 18 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chamois Niortais will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Aug 2027
3‑0, and Daniel Gérard took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Chamois Niortais tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market30 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Yann Adam is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Louis Fournier and Chamois Niortais agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Daniel Gérard was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.48. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrick Brun has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.76, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chamois Niortais can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
No sign of nerves from Yann Adam at 20 — 7.97
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yann Adam did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Frédéric Gautier 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.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Yann Adam has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match31 Jul 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Daniel Gérard’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Chamois Niortais.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Émile Roussel 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Jul 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Mathieu Mathieu 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market12 Jul 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Yann Adam’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market12 Jul 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chamois Niortais, another week without a signature from Aymeris Ligeon.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 2027
The fee is $570.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sochaux drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gabriele Paganelli is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Daniel Gérard 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.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Alexandre Pierre from Sochaux for $570.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Chamois Niortais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathieu Mathieu 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Chamois Niortais will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market24 May 2027
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Louis Fournier 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Apr 2027
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Frédéric Gautier 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 Apr 2027
Oumar Sidibé 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Dec 2026
Add another name to the list: Palmeiras have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Daniel Gérard. The answer from Chamois Niortais has not changed — yet.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Daniel Gérard 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Oumar Sidibé
“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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Clermont Foot left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Dec 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Yann Adam runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Chamois Niortais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Sidibé 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Tours left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Théodore Da Silva has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Chamois Niortais 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Oumar Sidibé 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Daniel Gérard is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.23 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Chamois Niortais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Sidibé 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Chamois Niortais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Sidibé 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I want to play”: Oumar Sidibé speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market9 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Daniel Gérard’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Chamois Niortais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Émile Roussel 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Théodore Da Silva has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Chamois Niortais 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Philippe Dumont dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Clermont Foot came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2026
0‑1 against OGC Nice, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Daniel Gérard at 21 — 7.88
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Daniel Gérard did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Frédéric Gautier 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Henri Marchand is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Chamois Niortais, 1‑0 the final word against Tours in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Émile Roussel 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
5.15 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.