Hamadou Karamoko 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Gaël Alette 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FC Fleury 91, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonathan Rivas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Trey Vimalin has his answer from FC Fleury 91; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Fleury 91 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at FC Fleury 91 can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at FC Fleury 91 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaël Alette 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Rémi Morel left the room before anybody could ask which.
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at FC Fleury 91 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaël Alette 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Stéphane Lambèse is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Fleury 91 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FC Fleury 91, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Hamadou Karamoko 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.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Gaël Alette 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.
20 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
A 1‑0 win over SC Aubagne Air Bel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rémi Morel on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutJonathan Rivas asks for a word with the manager
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaël Alette was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against LB Chateauroux? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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 Rubio Fidalgo is on it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
5 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FC Fleury 91 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Grégoire Lefebvre and FC Fleury 91 agree another 2 years.
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
Player ratingsLoup Hervieu beats them one at a time
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 FC Fleury 91, and it is not being withdrawn.
The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for Khalil Gannoun, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Gaël Alette 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jonathan Rivas.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Fleury 91 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaël Alette was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.92, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.79, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.09, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“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.
In brief
Looking aheadFC Fleury 91 take on the side everybody is chasing
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Rémi Morel was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the FC Fleury 91 dressing room was either.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
FC Fleury 91 spent the window trying to move Kévin Farade on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. US Concarneau moved on, Jonathan Rivas reports back to FC Fleury 91, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
FC Fleury 91 ran out of time with ESTAC Troyes. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at FC Fleury 91 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaël Alette 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Rémi Morel left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. FC Fleury 91 told Hugo Aubourg something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The offer from US Concarneau for Jonathan Rivas 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.
FC Fleury 91 and ESTAC Troyes have settled on $2.0M. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FC Fleury 91 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Fleury 91 can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at FC Fleury 91 until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bourg-Peronnas moved on, Benaja Sala Zola reports back to FC Fleury 91, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Hamadou Karamoko 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FC Fleury 91 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$1.7M on the table at ESTAC Troyes. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$130.0K on the table at FC Versailles. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Gaël Alette 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” William Séry has his answer from FC Fleury 91; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Paris 13 Atletico in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Fleury 91 can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FC Fleury 91 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$990.0K settles it between the clubs for Sullivan Péan
FC Villefranche have accepted the money. What FC Fleury 91 do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Gaël Alette 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.
US Orleans left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Rémi Morel to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The division's best last weekend was a FC Fleury 91 man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Khalil Gannoun was the best thing in any of them.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jonathan Rivas’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and FC Fleury 91 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
In brief
The dugoutSadibou Sylla asks for a word with the manager
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
It needed Jonathan Rivas to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against SC Aubagne Air Bel, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at FC Fleury 91 was different afterwards.
In brief
Player ratingsQuentin Vogt spends the afternoon fouling
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
137% of the income goes out in wages at FC Fleury 91
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Rémi Morel left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Loup Hervieu
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Loup Hervieu has come out of that comparison in the side, and FC Fleury 91 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Khalil Gannoun has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
LB Chateauroux next, and one man in the FC Fleury 91 dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutFreddy Colombo wants a proper job in this side
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 7.73 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Fleury 91 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Gaël Alette 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Rémi Morel could afford to be generous.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. FC Versailles will replay every second of the added time for a week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Fleury 91 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
185% of the income goes out in wages at FC Fleury 91
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Khalil Gannoun. 1‑0 against FC Versailles, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gaël Alette 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. FC Fleury 91 have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jonathan Rivas has come out of that comparison in the side, and FC Fleury 91 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaël Alette was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Rémi Morel left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
1 for Loup Hervieu, marked 7.59, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.69 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Stade de Reims is saying, and nobody at FC Fleury 91 is enjoying the guessing.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at FC Fleury 91 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaël Alette 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a FC Fleury 91 man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Jonathan Rivas was the best thing in any of them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Fleury 91 can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Le Puy Foot 43 for Benaja Sala Zola 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.
Grégoire Lefebvre 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaël Alette was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rémi Morel after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
12 seasons and 167 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Grégoire Lefebvre and FC Fleury 91 agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Fleury 91 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at FC Fleury 91 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaël Alette 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.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.