Marked for Raymond Faure
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jun 2032
Federico Pace breaks a bone — 136 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Jun 2032
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sam Sanna 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 2032
“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 The request is on a desk at Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 May 2032
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sam Sanna 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.
Squad17 May 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Mar 2032
“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 The request is on a desk at Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Mar 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sam Sanna 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
Squad16 Feb 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Feb 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sam Sanna 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
Upbeat
Match15 Sep 2031
Position 2 and 16 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market15 Sep 2031
“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 Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sam Sanna 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.
Match13 Sep 2031
A 1‑0 win over FC Metz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Malik Sellouki was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Juan Flórez 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 Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Sep 2031
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Stade Lavallois are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad15 Sep 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Raymond Faure's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
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
Market8 Sep 2031
“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.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Julien Maggiotti and Stade Lavallois agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Sam Sanna 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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Ousmane Touré 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.
Match6 Sep 2031
Michael Adu-Poku scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Nimes, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jun 2031
Schadrac Lulendo damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Market30 Jun 2031
“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.
Market30 Jun 2031
Only the photograph left for Ousmane Touré
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ousmane Touré will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stade Lavallois the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Feb 2031
Kylian Combo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stade Lavallois can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Feb 2031
Peter Ouaneh has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stade Lavallois they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sam Sanna 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Ousmane Touré has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Stade Lavallois 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Raymond Faure's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Jan 2031
“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 Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Jan 2031
Only the photograph left for Peter Ouaneh
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Peter Ouaneh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stade Lavallois the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Jan 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sam Sanna 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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Ousmane Touré has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Stade Lavallois 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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Raymond Faure's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.