Marked for Emmanuel Robert
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad1 Nov 2027
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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Nimes
Pablo Martinez 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Nimes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clément Michelin 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Match1 Nov 2027
The half-term report on Nimes
Position 8, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 95% of the Nimes income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout1 Nov 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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Luca Dias 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 Luca Dias trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
65 days out for Diaby Doucouré after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nimes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Mickaël Salamone: 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.” Nimes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 May 2027
Clément Michelin 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Nimes
Romain Padovani 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
“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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nimes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Nimes
Pablo Martinez 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Clément Michelin 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Luca Dias has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Ismaïl Aaneba
“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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 99% of the Nimes income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Vincent Pirès 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Nimes have let the market know Moussa Diallo can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Mickaël Salamone has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nimes 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.
Match25 Jan 2027
Continental football is in reach for Nimes
34 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Nimes
Pablo Martinez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match9 Jan 2027
Chamois Niortais made Nimes work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Clément Michelin 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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.02 — 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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Emmanuel Robert at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Nimes.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Clément Depres, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hervé Paris on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Market11 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Bissourou Touré has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Nimes.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Nimes scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nimes may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.33, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Nimes
Pablo Martinez 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match5 Dec 2026
Three points for Nimes, 3‑2 the final word against US Creteil in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Nimes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reeco Hackett 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Luca Dias
“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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hervé Paris on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
36 days out for Clément Depres after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nimes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match10 Oct 2026
3‑0, and Emmanuel Robert took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Nimes tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Emmanuel Robert takes the afternoon — 8.46
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Emmanuel Robert provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.05, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Nimes
Pablo Martinez 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 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Axel Kedvesi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
The numbers do not look good at Nimes
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Nimes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clément Michelin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
$2.0M — a new record at Nimes
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Squad31 Aug 2026
80 days out for Clément Depres after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nimes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Nimes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$390.0K on the table at Tours. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad31 Aug 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 Nimes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$330.0K was the most the club would pay and Clermont Foot were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
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: Emmanuel Robert from Tours for $2.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Nimes asked and Standard Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Nimes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoann Court was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
$7.6M — a new record at Nimes
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Clément Depres out for 87 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nimes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Nimes have gone to Tours with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nimes have done the hard part with Grasshopper, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$330.0K on the table at Clermont Foot. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Nimes
Pablo Martinez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
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 Caron from Chamois Niortais for $7.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Nimes asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
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Squad
11 new faces, and Nimes are still learning each other
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Squad
A row about effort at Nimes
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The dugout
No hiding place for Mouhamed Coulibaly