Marked for Théo Trinker
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Aug 2028
The knee: Loïck Landre out for 20 days
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. LB Chateauroux lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Paris 13 Atletico waiting with a shirt. Nobody at LB Chateauroux is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
$2.0M was the most the club would pay and Monaco 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.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
$1.1M on the table at USL Dunkerque. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with RC Strasbourg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stade de Reims keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yannis Verdier commits to LB Chateauroux for another 3 years.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Yanis Chahid 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 May 2028
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at LB Chateauroux is running low.
Squad29 May 2028
47 days out for Frédéric Richard after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. LB Chateauroux will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market29 May 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around LB Chateauroux they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 May 2028
Teddy Bouriaud 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 dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Martin Lecolier
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
Théo Trinker 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Apr 2028
Yanis Chahid 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.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Théo Trinker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
No place for Julien Astic on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at LB Chateauroux pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Evans Maurin, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad17 Apr 2028
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. LB Chateauroux lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Match15 Apr 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sochaux defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The plan did not have a place for Maël Zogba
Nobody at LB Chateauroux is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Jean-Luc Roger has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at LB Chateauroux can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at LB Chateauroux
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match1 Apr 2028
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Loïck Piquionne scored in the 86th minute, US Concarneau had already begun thinking about the journey home, and LB Chateauroux took the lot.
Match1 Apr 2028
It had gone 10 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Enzo Tostivint: 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.” LB Chateauroux have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market3 Apr 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aymeric Potiron will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around LB Chateauroux the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Teddy Bouriaud and LB Chateauroux agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Calvin Verdonk 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Loïck Piquionne. 1‑0 against US Concarneau, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
Diogo Sousa 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 LB Chateauroux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at LB Chateauroux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Théo Trinker 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Théo Trinker
“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.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against US Concarneau in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mehdi Beneddine trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Martin Lecolier has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Mar 2028
The knee: Amadou Ba-Sy out for 34 days
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. LB Chateauroux lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Pressure builds in the LB Chateauroux boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market6 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at LB Chateauroux is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Lecolier and LB Chateauroux agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Yanis Chahid 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 LB Chateauroux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Théo Trinker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“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 dugout6 Mar 2028
Something was said to Yannis Verdier and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
LB Chateauroux pull $785.4K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Feb 2028
6 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.
Match12 Feb 2028
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at LB Chateauroux can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gaoussou Traoré and LB Chateauroux agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Teddy Bouriaud 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 terraces14 Feb 2028
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Théo Trinker 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 ratings14 Feb 2028
The afternoon belonged to Yanis Chahid
A mark of 7.20, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Théo Trinker gets it from the manager
“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
Match27 Nov 2027
No end in sight to LB Chateauroux's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at LB Chateauroux has to find a result from somewhere.
Match29 Nov 2027
Position 16, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at LB Chateauroux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diogo Sousa 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Théo Trinker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Sékou Doucouré
“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.
Match27 Nov 2027
A 1‑1 draw with US Concarneau leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jean-Luc Roger chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Martin Lecolier 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
Uneasy
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
LB Chateauroux and ESTAC Troyes have settled on $2.3M. 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
LB Chateauroux close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. LB Chateauroux have done the hard part with Stade Briochin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Calvin Verdonk 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diogo Sousa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and LB Chateauroux know it.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Lens have kept their man, and LB Chateauroux go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. LB Chateauroux will try again when the window opens; Monaco may not be selling by then.
Squad6 Sep 2027
This league is too small for Calvin Verdonk
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. LB Chateauroux will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Toulouse FC keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market16 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around LB Chateauroux people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
$120.0K settles it between the clubs for Djordan Mongo-Mpeho
Monaco have accepted the money. What LB Chateauroux do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
LB Chateauroux offered $160.0K; RC Lens said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Diogo Sousa 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Strasbourg have kept their man, and LB Chateauroux go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Loïck Piquionne and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. 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.
Match16 Sep 2026
Grenoble Foot 38 ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match19 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around LB Chateauroux are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a goal for LB Chateauroux
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lassana Diakhaby was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Théo Trinker 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.09 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, LB Chateauroux had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jean-Luc Roger chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.