“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ibrahim Coulibaly will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Clermont Foot the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lucão 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andy Pelmard trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Clermont Foot, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gessime Yassine did not need any: 8.26, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Clermont Foot is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bakary Nimaga and Clermont Foot 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 Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Clermont Foot game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Amiens SC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Habib Keïta has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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 Maïdine Douane is on it.
In brief
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Jacques Adam on the draw
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Clermont Foot may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Gessime Yassine, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Clermont Foot did not have in the autumn.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Aël Belangote 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.
He is 21 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot 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.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Clermont Foot they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot 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 Henri Saivet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jacques Adam was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Clermont Foot dressing room was either.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Paris 13 Atletico? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“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 Clermont Foot, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Clermont Foot they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gessime Yassine 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
“I watch every Clermont Foot game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at MC Alger runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Clermont Foot will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Massamba N'Diaye is on 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 Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Amine Saïd has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Clermont Foot prefer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Milan Gharibian obliged against SM Caen. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Clermont Foot.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Clermont Foot is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Maxence Soulet, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Clermont Foot will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Lucão 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Théo Ramousse will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Clermont Foot the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and JS Saoura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Clermont Foot is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 19 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Aël Belangote and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Toulouse FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Clermont Foot people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Clermont Foot have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Union Brescia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Clermont Foot, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.94 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 Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Pacos de Ferreira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Clermont Foot have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Clermont Foot, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Paris 13 Atletico said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Clermont Foot, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Clermont Foot have made the call to SC Bastia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 Clermont Foot, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Théo Ramousse will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Clermont Foot the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Annecy have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clermont Foot have made the call to Sochaux. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The mood at Clermont Foot 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Clermont Foot is running low.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Clermont Foot have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SC Bastia have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Elhadj Koné 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Mehdi Moujetzky is in the works
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Clermont Foot have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Yoann Salmier 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 Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clermont Foot asked and Ittihad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Henri Saivet has his answer from Clermont Foot; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugoutIvan M'Bahia knocks on the manager’s door
51Edition
The Clermont Foot Courier
19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondentUneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Stade de Reims said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Samba Diba 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.
Clermont Foot have made the call to FC Nantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Clermont Foot will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Habib Keïta commits to Clermont Foot for another 4 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Napoli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clermont Foot have made the call to Grenoble Foot 38. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to AS Saint-Etienne: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Nobody at Clermont Foot 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.
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.
“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 Clermont Foot, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Clermont Foot
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Add another name to the list: MC Alger have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohamed-Amine Bouchenna. The answer from Clermont Foot has not changed — yet.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Toulouse FC is saying, and nobody at Clermont Foot is enjoying the guessing.
Gessime Yassine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Stade Rennais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Luís Hemir has come up in conversations Clermont Foot were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Allan Ackra has left for Sochaux in a $1.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
“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; Clermont Foot are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Théo Ramousse 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maxence Soulet is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Clermont Foot know it.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Abdellah Baallal may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Clermont Foot hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
A loan enquiry to Stade Brestois: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Nobody at Clermont Foot 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.
In brief
The dugoutAndy Pelmard knocks on the manager's door
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
The mood at Clermont Foot 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Clermont Foot is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Clermont Foot hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Yoann Salmier 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Mathys Tourraine 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amine Saïd trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Abdellah Baallal is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Clermont Foot know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Clermont Foot will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Yacine Titraoui 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Clermont Foot. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Yacine Titraoui 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 Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Maïdine Douane is on 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 Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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 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 Enzo Cantero has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Clermont Foot, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Montpellier HSC watched Théo Guivarch again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
In brief
SquadElhadj Koné is training like a man with a point to make
Mathys Tourraine 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
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 Henri Saivet has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Clermont Foot know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Yacine Titraoui’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
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 Maïdine Douane is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan M'Bahia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Clermont Foot know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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.
29 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match10 Apr 2027
Axel Camblan wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Axel Camblan found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and ESTAC Troyes went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Yacine Titraoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
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.
“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; Clermont Foot are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I watch every Clermont Foot game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Montpellier HSC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Yacine Titraoui, marked 7.94, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot 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 Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Clermont Foot know it.
“I did not go to Montpellier HSC to sit and watch. I want to come back to Clermont Foot and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
Yacine Titraoui 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maxence Soulet is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Clermont Foot told Yacine Titraoui something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maxence Soulet and Clermont Foot agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Clermont Foot know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Clermont Foot, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Sam Amo-Ameyaw, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Yacine Titraoui 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Florian Mekue is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
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 Maïdine Douane is on it.
“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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Mathys Tourraine 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 Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chances created: 13. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
“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; Clermont Foot are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Henri Saivet
Mathys Tourraine 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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 is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Luís Hemir has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Clermont Foot can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Clermont Foot now know that too.
Johan Gastien and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
“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.
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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yacine Titraoui scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Yacine Titraoui 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 Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Théo Guivarch'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.
Position 18 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Yacine Titraoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.” Jacques Adam after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mathys Tourraine’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Clermont Foot needing him to play as if none of it matters.
7.56, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Le Mans FC have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Clermont Foot will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Clermont Foot pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Yacine Titraoui 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.
Clermont Foot asked and AS Saint-Etienne said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Clermont Foot know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Coulibaly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
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 Jacques Adam to a room that had heard them before.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Clermont Foot will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
A loan enquiry to AS Saint-Etienne: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Clermont Foot had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Stade Lavallois left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Henri Saivet 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A loan enquiry to Grenoble Foot 38: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Johan Gastien 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.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clermont Foot asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sam Amo-Ameyaw. 1‑0 against Pau FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Johan Gastien and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Toulouse FC have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yoann Salmier has his answer from Clermont Foot; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Clermont Foot have made the call to RC Lens. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
RC Strasbourg have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
7.56, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Bakary Nimaga 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.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Théo Guivarch, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Maïdine Douane was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Coulibaly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 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 1‑2 Jacques Adam left the room before anybody could ask which.
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Luís Hemir takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luís Hemir provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Mathys Tourraine 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Christ Okou is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Clermont Foot know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
7.68, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luís Hemir commits to Clermont Foot for another 4 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Position 18, 9 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Cléo Mélières 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.
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Henri Saivet 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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Clermont Foot dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Théo Ramousse and Clermont Foot agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ibrahim Coulibaly is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
“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 Clermont Foot know it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Johan Gastien is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout30 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 1‑2 Jacques Adam left the room before anybody could ask which.
ESTAC Troyes next, and one man in the Clermont Foot dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Marked 5.30. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Johan Gastien 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Marked 6.84 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout23 Nov 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Jacques Adam to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Bakary Nimaga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Henri Saivet 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.
Something was said to Kenji-Van Boto and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Rodez AF next, and one man in the Clermont Foot dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Clermont Foot have no good answer.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kenji-Van Boto and Clermont Foot agree another 3 years.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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 is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Axel Camblan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Axel Camblan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Clermont Foot.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jacques Adam, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Clermont Foot can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Clermont Foot, and 6 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Position 18 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Henri Saivet 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jacques Adam after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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 Maïdine Douane is on it.
Nobody at Clermont Foot 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.
Johan Gastien 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.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bakary Nimaga 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.” Jacques Adam after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan M'Bahia commits to Clermont Foot for another 5 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Grenoble Foot 38 next, and one man in the Clermont Foot dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Clermont Foot 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.
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 Abdellah Baallal has written the date down.
Luís Hemir had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Montpellier HSC were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Luís Hemir has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Johan Gastien 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 Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Clermont Foot can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Abdellah Baallal scored, was marked 7.43, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Johan Gastien 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 Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clermont Foot asked and Le Havre AC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Abdellah Baallal had Clermont Foot level again within 4 minutes, and ESTAC Troyes never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout21 Sep 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Jacques Adam to a room that had heard them before.
0‑4 to Stade de Reims, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Clermont Foot asked and FC Nantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Henri Saivet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from SC Aubagne Air Bel for Théo Ramousse 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Lyonnais have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Mathys Tourraine 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 Bakary Nimaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Nantes have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Clermont Foot will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jacques Adam on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Mathys Tourraine 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.
Clermont Foot asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Julien Astic again, and this time the name on the line is Pau FC. Clermont Foot are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diop 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 dugout24 Aug 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 0‑2 Jacques Adam left the room before anybody could ask which.
The deal with FC Metz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Mathys Tourraine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Clermont Foot
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Clermont Foot asked and FC Nantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jean-Baptiste Dumont has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joseph Bonnet 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Didier Rodriguez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
In brief
SquadOusmane Diop falls out with a teammate over standards
Mathys Tourraine 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Lyonnais have kept their man, and Clermont Foot go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Luís Hemir was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
Marked 6.92 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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 Clermont Foot know it.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Le Mans FC kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Clermont Foot will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The phone has started ringing about Amine Saïd again, and this time the name on the line is SC Aubagne Air Bel. Clermont Foot are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoann Salmier was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 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.
“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; Clermont Foot are dealing with a man who wants a different country.