The mood at US Creteil has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. US Creteil have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” US Creteil have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Paris FC keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at US Creteil 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 approach has been made to Victoria United and the answer is somebody else's to give. These things are settled in private and reported in public, usually in that order.
In brief
SquadStephen Quemper falls out with a teammate over standards
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around US Creteil people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what US Creteil can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. US Creteil have done the hard part with Monaco, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ahmad Ngouyamsa 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 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 Creteil have made the call to Frosinone. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amine Messoussa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 US Creteil, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
US Creteil and Stade Rennais have settled on $270.0K. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stephen Quemper was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. François Bertrand has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what US Creteil can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” US Creteil have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Ahmad Ngouyamsa 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.
In brief
SquadWords at US Creteil training over how hard people work
0‑3 against AC Ajaccio, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what US Creteil can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at US Creteil training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stephen Quemper 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” François Bertrand after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1‑5 against Chamois Niortais, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about US Creteil and Chamois Niortais in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stephen Quemper was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Denis Aubert 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” François Bertrand after 1‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what US Creteil can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Creteil this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at US Creteil, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at US Creteil has been clear about where Sofiane Bachiri stands, which is more than many ever get.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Strasbourg have kept their man, and US Creteil go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Chamois Niortais: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Abdessalem Boujenfa has his answer from US Creteil; what he does with it is the next window’s story.