The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at US Creteil has been clear about where Billal Mehadji stands, which is more than many ever get.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at US Creteil can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at US Creteil is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. US Creteil know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at US Creteil can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at US Creteil is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. US Creteil know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at US Creteil is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Renato Marin knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. US Creteil know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at US Creteil is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. US Creteil know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at US Creteil can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“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.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
The name of Gaël Nsombi has come up in conversations US Creteil were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
151% of the income goes out in wages at US Creteil
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.
Trae Briscoe is 19, and US Creteil have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
$2.8M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
“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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Bourg-Peronnas defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
2-6 to Sochaux, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at US Creteil
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around US Creteil they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around US Creteil they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around US Creteil they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
589% of the income goes out in wages at US Creteil
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.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at US Creteil that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at US Creteil has been clear about where Alexandre Gricourt stands, which is more than many ever get.
Kévin Hoggas is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at US Creteil has been clear about where Nathanaël Bai stands, which is more than many ever get.