Marked for Laurent Benoit
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market18 Oct 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vincent Bernard will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chamois Niortais the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Rémi Pierre in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
39 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Marked 8.50 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Oct 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Warren Mountsangui will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chamois Niortais the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Bruno Arnaud 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Marked 8.49 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad11 Oct 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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Jérémie Lioka 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
AJ Auxerre pay $91.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Robert André 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer from Stade Brestois for Laurent Benoit was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A season average of 7.31 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Chamois Niortais know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad14 Jun 2027
François Laine 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
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 49. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Le Havre AC for Laurent Benoit was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Stade Rennais paid $5.4M and Chamois Niortais took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Bruno Arnaud
Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match15 Aug 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Didier Giraud 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.