Marked for Laurent Masson
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 May 2033
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market30 May 2033
Only the photograph left for Jamal Gonzaga
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jamal Gonzaga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 May 2033
Youssef Khoudda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 May 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gabin Delassus commits to AJ Auxerre for another 3 years.
Boardroom30 May 2033
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad30 May 2033
Gaël Lafont 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.
The dugout30 May 2033
“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.
Market30 May 2033
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Youssef Khoudda signs something — a contract at AJ Auxerre or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market30 May 2033
AJ Auxerre shop where it costs nothing
Gabin Delassus signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 May 2033
Tidiane Devernois damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Market9 May 2033
Only the photograph left for Andrés Panesso
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrés Panesso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 May 2033
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marvin Senaya and AJ Auxerre agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 May 2033
Youssef Khoudda 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.
Squad9 May 2033
A row about effort at AJ Auxerre
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaël Lafont was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 May 2033
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tidiane Devernois is on it.
Market9 May 2033
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marius Courcoul’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout9 May 2033
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout9 May 2033
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AJ Auxerre. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Apr 2033
Tidiane Devernois damages knee ligaments — 93 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
Squad18 Apr 2033
A fracture rules Jacques Guillot out for 31 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market18 Apr 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Niccolò Trapani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Apr 2033
A row about effort at AJ Auxerre
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaël Lafont was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Apr 2033
Telli Siwe 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 dugout18 Apr 2033
The manager makes an example of Laurent Masson
“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.
Market18 Apr 2033
The name of Rudy Matondo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout18 Apr 2033
Andrés Panesso 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.
Market18 Apr 2033
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs AJ Auxerre money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Mar 2033
Tidiane Devernois damages knee ligaments — 114 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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 terraces28 Mar 2033
Supporters organise against the AJ Auxerre board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad28 Mar 2033
52 days out for Jacques Guillot after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AJ Auxerre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Mar 2033
A row about effort at AJ Auxerre
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaël Lafont was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Mar 2033
Telli Siwe 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 AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Feb 2033
Anger at AJ Auxerre spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad28 Feb 2033
A fracture rules Jacques Guillot out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Feb 2033
Telli Siwe 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 AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Feb 2033
The name of Kévin Danois keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout28 Feb 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jean-Baptiste Guérin, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Feb 2033
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AJ Auxerre. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Feb 2033
Only the photograph left for Andrés Panesso
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrés Panesso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market14 Feb 2033
Tours come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AJ Auxerre did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Feb 2033
Youssef Khoudda 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.
Squad14 Feb 2033
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Théodore Gauthier
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AJ Auxerre will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market14 Feb 2033
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Charles Ménard is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Feb 2033
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thomas Carré has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad14 Feb 2033
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ervin Piric 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 dugout14 Feb 2033
The manager makes an example of Lenny Leonil
“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 dugout14 Feb 2033
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tidiane Devernois is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
Fee done, terms next for Angel Gomes
AJ Auxerre and Olympique de Marseille have settled on $9.7M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market10 Jan 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market10 Jan 2033
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stade Lavallois waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout10 Jan 2033
Laurent Masson: 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.” AJ Auxerre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market10 Jan 2033
“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
No thanks: Bruno Picard rejects the move
AJ Auxerre had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olympique Lyonnais, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match8 Jan 2033
The wait goes on for AJ Auxerre
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
AJ Auxerre asked and FC Metz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jan 2033
A row about effort at AJ Auxerre
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaël Lafont was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.