87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chamois Niortais lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jean-Luc Fontaine provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.75 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jean-Luc Charles will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chamois Niortais the goodbyes have quietly begun.
11 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chamois Niortais and US Creteil in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
SquadWords at Chamois Niortais training over how hard people work
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Sébastien Girard at his very best
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Yves Colin at his very best
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chamois Niortais lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Esteban Pourcher has just signed for Chamois Niortais, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Marc Vidal 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.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chamois Niortais lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bayern Munich paid $51.3M 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.
Dijon will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chamois Niortais were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“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.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chamois Niortais and Dijon, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Vidal 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.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chamois Niortais lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Red Star will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chamois Niortais were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Chamois Niortais, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
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.
In brief
SquadYves Colin falls out with a teammate over standards
Bruno Muller damages knee ligaments — 118 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 118 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Paris FC for Marc Vidal 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.
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.
Yves Colin 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.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chamois Niortais lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Add another name to the list: Paris FC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marc Vidal. The answer from Chamois Niortais has not changed — yet.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arnaud Deschamps and Chamois Niortais agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Emmanuel Meyer 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Emmanuel Meyer was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.12. 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.