retired_w0lfpack1

Nîmes Olympique - session 2

Unfortunately, I was ruled out of the next three months with a nasty viral infection, and the side came alive under my assistant manager, leaving me wondering just how superfluous I am.

A five-goal explosion against Louuhans-Cuiseaux showed our quality, with Benjamin Psaume scoring a hat-trick and Stéphane Beyrac justifying his selection over Colloredo with a brace.

Louhans-Cuiseaux 1, Nîmes 5
Chaveriat 12; Psaume 2, 27, 60, Beyrc 19, 64
MoM: FC Benjmain Psaume

A disappointing comeback by Yzeure squandered three points after we'd built an early lead at home through Benjamin Psaume and Martijn Kamps, the Dutchman scoring his first goal for Nîmes and earning Man of the Match.

Nîmes 2, Yzeure 2
Psaume 2, Kamps 13; Degache 42, Courteille 72
MoM: MC Martijn Kamps

Dubious officiating at the Stade de la Rabine saw PM7's side Vannes given two questionable penalties. We peppered the goal sufficiently that Erwan Pujol was Man of the Match, but weren't able to overcome the officials.

Vannes 3, Nîmes 0
Gomba pen 18, Bolivard 23, Le Roux pen 90; ----
MoM: Vannes GK Erwan Pujol

We couldn't pick up the points at home against Boulogne-sur-Mer, either, as they came out looking for a scoreless draw from the outset.

Nîmes 0, Boulogne-sur-Mer 0
----;----
MoM: Boulogne-sur-Mer captain William Louiron

The side finally put it all together against Raon-l'Etape, coming back from a goal down to a 4-1 win which surely helped our shaky side gel together, and learn to trust each other.

Benjamin Psaume netted a brace, with Sylvain Deplace scoring from midfield and defender Christophe Dussart netting from a corner kick.

Raon-l'Etape 1, Nîmes 4
Bankajjane 33; Psaume 43, 49, Deplace 45, Dussart 74
MoM: FC Benjamin Psaume

We followed that up with a solid 2-1 win over HD's Paris Est side, with big Christophe Dussart scoring his second in as many games, and veteran Stéphane Beyrac making it 2-0 at halftime.

Nîmes 2, Paris Est 1
Dussart 42, Beyrac 45; Mozika 75
MoM: FC Stéphane Beyrac

It was a wild one against Séte, with stoppage-time goals from each side in a heart-stopping 2-2 draw. Christophe Dussart scored his third goal in three matches, but it was Benjamin Psaume who was the hero with the 93rd-minute equalizer!

Séte 2, Nîmes 2
Descamps 11, 90; Dussart 56, Psaume 90
MoM: FC Benjamin Psaume

Defender Hervé Alicarte struck a beautiful free kick to give us a 1-0 win over Terk's lowly Pau, after the visitors had put up a credible fight through 70 minutes. It was a heart-breaking defeat for the plucky relegation battlers.

Nîmes 1, Pau 0
Alicarte 71; ----
MoM: DC Hervé Alicarte

For the first time all season, we were in the top ten!

It didn't last long, though - a first-half hat trick by Ali Hadjérès proved more than we could handle at Romorantin-Lanthenay, despite the goalscoring heroics of Stéphane Beyrac and Benjamin Psaume.

Romorantin 3, Nîmes 2
Hadjérès 10, 28, 31; Beyrac 20, Psaume 74
MoM: Romorantin FC Ali Hadjérès

The defeat dropped us to eleventh place, which is where we stood when I resumed control..

retired_w0lfpack1

Nîmes Olympique - Session 3

Zéphirin Zoko was back in the lineup for the trip to Cherbourg, who lurked 13th in the table.

We were dominant in the early going, but brilliant work from Gaëtan Deneuve in the Cerbrough goal kept us at bay through halftime.

Duchesne made a brilliant save of his own in the second half, but the muddy pitch was limiting things and it looked like we would slog to a nil-nil draw.

To my horror, Stéphane Robinet broke clear of our defense in the 85th minute, and made short work of Duchesne, delighting the paltry crowd of 918 with a 0-1 lead!

I threw everyone forward in a last-ditch gamble to salvage a draw, but Cherbourg's defense held firm. Just as I wrote the game off in disgust, three minutes deep into stoppage time, Stéphane Beyrac banged home a rebound in the area, a stunning goal to grab a share of the points!

Cherbourg 1, Nîmes 1
Robinet 85; Beyrac 90
MoM: Cherbourg FC Stéphane Robinet

The injury-plagued Zéphirin Zoko had lasted just one match this time, and would be out another 2-3 weeks. Worse, however, goalkeeper Cédric Duchesne had suffered a back spasm, which would rule him out through Christmas. I was already feeling the pressure from the board, and for the crucial midpoint of the season my fate would noew rest in the gloves Sébastian Giminez, of whom I once wrote "A backup at best; hope I don't need him!".

Matt Panpardus downplayed Clermont's chances - they hadn't won on the road all year. Well, he hadn't faced us, either. For forty minutes I thought we looked the better side, getting the majority of possession, and delighting the crowd with some attacking football. All too abruptly, Rudy Carlier took off on a breakaway, and backup goalkeeper Giminez wasn't up to the test: Clermont led 0-1 at halftime.

I questioned the team's passion at halftime, saying I'd seen better football from Americans, but that just seemed to deflate the side even further. When Kamel Ouejdide took clear on the counter at the hour, nobody tracked Armand. It looked like Ouejdide had a goal himself, but instead of shooting he sliced a low ball through the six for Armand, who scored his second goal in as many games against us.

We never had what it took to threaten thereafter, and once again I found myself looking at my old kit, and telling Panpardus "well done" while wishing I had a club as talented as his.

Nîmes 0, Clermont 2
----; Carlier 39, Armand 60
MoM: Clermont FC Kamel Ouejdide

A French Cup 7th Round encounter against CFA2 outfit Noisy-le-Sec would provide us with a morale-building punching bag. Sure enough, 6 minutes in, we led 1-0, and it was a 25-yard free kick by
Hervé Alicarte which opened the floodgates.

By the quarter-hour, it was 2-0, with Jean-Marie Stéphanopoli providing long service for Benjamin Psaume to run onto. The on-loan speedster duly converted, barely breaking a sweat as he doubled our lead.

Giacopelli got one back for the home side, giving their sopping-wet supporters something to cheer, but at the half-hour, Colloredo's pass for Psaume let the Toulouse striker double his tally and make it 3-1, which was the score we took to the break.

Alicarte scored his second of the game - not bad for a central defender - on a stunning free kick in the 67th minute to put the outcome well beyond a doubt, and in the closing minutes Anthony Robic made the final score 5-1, thanks in large part to a brilliant long ball from debutante Erwin Quintin.

Noisy-le-Sec 1, Nîmes 5
Giacopelli 22; Alicarte 6, 67, Psaume 15, 31, Robic 81
MoM: FC Benjamin Psaume

A wet night in Cannes followed, where we faced Chris de Bruijn's slumping side. "Nîmes will give us just the jump-start we need," he predicted, and as it turned out, he was all too correct. Both sides had chances in the early going, but it was scoreless through halftime.

That's when the lads decided it was time for some Christmas spirit, several weeks early. First, Sébastian Giminez's howler should have gifted them a goal; he was lucky their man missed his shot. Then, last man Matijn Kamps grabbed a handful of jersey to try and save a goal.. but got sent off for naught as Lassina Diabaté took full advantage of the free kick from just outside the eighteen.

Shortly thereafter, Samuel Darchy caught Giminez dallying off his line, and chipped for an easy 2-0 final. WLKRAS's men had made good on his pre-match prediction. "Your 'keeper needs to learn to clear his lines," he said to me as we shook hands after.

True enough.

Worse, a yellow for central defender Christophe Dussart would see him suspended for our next match as well as Kamps.

Cannes 2, Nîmes 0
Diabaté 64, Darchy 70; ----
MoM: Cannes DC Lassina Diabaté

It didn't get any easier with the visit of Laval, who had recovered from their early season form to top the table. In fact, their 2-0 win over us earlier in the season had propelled them to a five-game winning streak which got them into that position, and they were expected to win here, too.

Yohan Rivière duly put the visitors ahead in the 18th minute, a shot that was none too impressive, but still enough to best Giminez. The backup 'keeper was simply not good enough for this level, and our defense was struggling without the suspended Dussart. They still did enough to keep it 0-1 through halftime.

Surprisingly, we dominated possession through the second half, though with Laval sitting back and soaking up the pressure, we weren't able to convert possession into chances. Still, Zoko was very unlucky to see his shot at an equalizer tipped over the bar in stoppage time.

Nîmes 0, Laval 1
----; Rivière 18
MoM: DC Hervé Alicarte

The 8th Round of the French Cup saw another easy match against lower division opposition, this time, a trip to Locminé, and any doubts I had about the outcome were erased in the first quarter hour. Anthony Robic signalled a warning by striking the crossbar in the 2nd minute, and we were in control from the off.

Injury-plagued Zéphirin Zoko celebrated his return to the starting lineup with his first-ever goal for Nîmes, a breakaway provided by Psaume in the 7th minute, and then made it 2-0 from an 11th-minute corner. Finally! I was getting the performance we'd dreamed of from him!

Psaume struck the post in the 25th minute, but a poor clearance saw Psaume and Zoko in behind the defense together in the 34th minute. Psaume graciously passed for Zoko to finish out his hat-trick, and it was 3-0!

Not content with that, Dutch winger Anthony Robic made it 4-0 when a free kick rattled around the Locminé box for a few seconds too long - he tucked it home for an impressive halftime advantage.

In the second half, woeful goalkeeper Sébastian Giminez cemented my decision to get rid of him at the earliest opportunity with a dismal free kick in the 55th minute. Unbelievably, he struck it straight into the one-man wall provided by Abdoulaye Koulibaly, who made him pay with a 30-yard strike to the open net.

Another horrific blunder by Giminez in the 85th minute let Koulibaly score his second for a respectable 4-2 final. This time, the abysmal 32-year-old came out of his box to take the ball off of Alicarte's foot, and utterly misplayed it, knocking it horizontally and only a few yards at most. Koulibaly could hardly believe his luck - and had another open-net strike from range.

Locminé 2, Nîmes 4
Koulibaly 55, 85; Zoko 7, 11, 34, Robic 45
MoM: FC Zéphirin Zoko

Sixth-placed Sannois-Saint-Gratien would provide a stiffer test, and a tough decision for the manager. Cédric Duchesne was back in training, but nowhere near match fit; I decided that he couldn't possibly do worse than Giminez had, and started him anyways. I regretted it within three minutes, as Jérémy Choplin's early headed goal gave the home side a 0-1 lead.

Stéphanopoli could have gotten us right back in it, but struck the crossbar; still, it was a promising sign, and we made several inroads into the Sannois defense over the next half-hour. Finally, in the 41st minute, Psaume's cross from the left found Zéphirin Zoko for a near-post header! Finally on-form, he had his first league goal for Nîmes, and a 1-1 score at half-time!

Unfortunately, Cédric Fabien scores to give Sannois the lead in the 52nd, and on-loan striker Franck Padovani victimized Alicarte in the 54th. Two goals in three minutes, and we were down 1-3, doomed to yet another defeat. Figuring further pummelling wouldn't be good for Duchesne's morale, I brought him off for the useless Giminez.

In the 88th minute, Benjamin Psaume grabbed a late goal to give us half a chance..

... but then another walkabout moment from Giminez saw Alo'o Efoulou put the game beyond a doubt.

Sannois SG 4, Nimes 2
Choplin 3, Fabien 52, Padovani 54, Efoulou 90; ;Zoko 41, Psaume 88
MoM: Sannois FC Franck Padovani

The note of displeasure from my chairman on my desk made it clear just how tenuous my position was becoming, and I had worse problems brewing - it looked as though half the squad had lost confidence in their manager, and there was talk in the press about how much better the side had performed under Assistant Manager Christophe Liron, and asking why the chairman didn't make the move permanent.

When asked about the pressure in the build-up to our next match, I promised, "Four straight defeats is unacceptable, and we'll turn it around today."

Brave words against 2nd-place Toulon!

We kept them level for thirty-five minutes, at least, but then Moussa Mara scored a brilliant goal, finding a sliver of space in the box and putting captain Amor Kehiha's ball home at the near post.

In the 52nd minute, young midfielder Matijn Kamps had the ball stolen off his foot in the box, when he should have just hoofed it clear. Anthony Colinet was the beneficiary, and we were in all sorts of trouble.

I tried to rally the troops, but it was clear that they'd given up on the match, and no amount of shouting from the touchline could convince them that we still had a chance.

Nîmes 0, Toulon 2
----; Mara 39, Colinet 52
MoM: Toulon MC Anthony Colinet

New Year's Break.

We lay 13th now, but just one point clear of the relegation zone.

It was a disastrous season, considering our pre-seaon hopes, and I expected the axe to fall any moment.

Worse, I couldn't really see where we were going wrong. The abysmal play of Sébastian Giminez for the injured Duchesne, of course, had cost us a half-dozen goals, and the repeated injuries to Zéphirin Zoko perhaps had as well, but.. where has it gone wrong?

shannon2007

Vannes Olympique

A tough end of year run in was expected, and a tough end of year run in was had. Two vital relegation tussles saw a decent enough point gained away at Pau in fairly even match, before Chatellerault were seen off thanks to a 73 minute penalty from right back Jean Sebastien Gomba, and an own goal from the visitor's Mael Lepicier. It wasn't pretty, but they all count.

A great battle at home to Clermont in the cup before the deadlock was finally broken on 109 minutes, a defeat we really didn't deserve at the end of the day. A 1-0 loss at Cherbourg was followed by an inredible match at home to Angers . Reduced to 10 men after a ludicrous refereeing decision on just four minutes, we went in tat the break 2-0 down. Superb fighting spirit in the second half saw us battle back to 2-2 before Angers won the match with a clearly offside goal. Referee Christian Guillard not living up to his name.


A visit to Clermont once more, Gerry O'Driscoll sends 1-0 up after eight minutes. Clermont hit back to lead on the hour mark but just as they think they've won Jean Marie Eveno grabs us a valuable point. Final match of the year saw promotion chasing Cannes arrive with their manager arrogantly claiming an easy three points. They were sent home with tails between their legs after a brave 0-0 draw was achieved by the Vannes players.


We sit 15th after 24 matches, but the relegation battle is becoming desperate and even Nimes are being dragged back into the pack. The January window sees five new arrivals at Vannes, all signed on frees with a payment if and when they leave. We are also in negotiations to bring three players from our parent club Paris SG - but we won't hold our breath for their arrival.

retired_bbcarr

Pau FC

“Three goals? In thirteen games? Seriously?” Brahim had not done a good job whilst I was away. In thirteen games we had managed a solitary win, failed to score in ten matches and come away with only six points from a possible thirty-nine. Needless to say, the fans were glad I was back.

My first game back in charge was against fellow relegation battlers Vannes. The match throughout was fairly even, and though a point each was of little use to either, that was what we managed. Pierre Aristouy – by far our most talented player – gave us the lead on twenty-nine minutes, but by the break the visitors were level through O’Driscoll. Both sides had chances to win in the second half, neither could take them, but at least we’d scored a goal.

Raon l’Etape had beaten Paris Est before we travelled to face them at the Stade Paul Gasser, and though we put up a fight in the first hour, we were blown away at the end. Hassan Benkajjane and Stephen Vincent had given Raon a two goal lead, but we were still in the game at the break thanks to Aristouy’s well placed effort. Vincent put Raon back two goals in front after the hour, but when Dia pulled one back for us again, I sensed game on. Unfortunately, we then collapsed and allowed two cheap goals, Christophe Violant and Anthony Bartholomé rounding off their win.

We had the chance for a confidence inspiring victory in the seventh round of the French Cup against CFA 2 side Agen. A change in tactic had been necessitated after our beating by Raon, and it seemed to work as Tino Costa and Aristouy had us two up by the break. After the break; however, we let fly and goals from Aristouy, Joly, Dia and an Anthony Delbos own goal saw us sail to a six goal victory.

Nigh on every game was now becoming a must-win for us as we had slipped some ten points from safety. Paris Est, managed by HD, were our nexct visitors, and after Moke Kajima had put them in front with a seventeenth minute penalty, Costa and Aristouy bagged us all three vital points with goals either side of half time.

We tried to continue our new found form against Sète, and with Olivier Boyaczyk sent off early on for the home side, we really should have claimed victory. However, we seemed toothless in attack after Aristouy departed due to injury just after the half hour, and conceding a ninetieth minute penalty gave Cédric Elzéard the chance to steal Sète the win, which he duly did.

Our brief cup run was bound to end against Ligue 2 side Guingamp, but when the sides went in level, and we’d had a couple chances to break the deadlock ourselves, I began to believe that we could pull off a massive shock. I told the players as much at the break, but they obviously didn’t believe me. Guingamp ran roughshod over us in the second half, Eudeline claiming a hat-trick; Soumah and Sitruk bagging the others in a five-goal romp.

Beauvais were perhaps a side on the very fringes of the relegation battle, but having lost their previous two league matches before facing us, there was some slight hope for us to cling onto. The first half was an even affair with neither side looking to take risks, but Tandia’s goal just after the break was enough for us to claim victory and another vital three points.

I had faced Romorantin in my last game before Brahim took over on his disastrous spell, and I was due for another mini-break after facing them this time. I wanted to sign off on a victory, and really should have done as we hit the cross bar three times and the post once, but for the life of us could not force the ball into the net. Luckily, neither could Romorantin and we at least claimed a point, but it was most definitely a case of two lost.

shannon2007

Vannes Olympique - Meet the Squad

Now that we have arrived at the turn of the year, lets meet the main players who are at the only club that really counts in the game.

The goalkeeping position has been a bit of a toss up this season to be honest. Twenty seven year old Christope Revel currently hold the position between the sticks. Revel has played fifteen times this season, conceding 27 goals. He's an averagely decent keeper for this level. Nineteen year old Erwan Pujol is probably, in the long run at any rate, a better keeper than Revel. Has dropped out of the side due to low confidence. Eleven first team appearances, losing nine goals. As back up to those two, we have just sign WLKRAS best mate Arjan van der Kaaij from Dutch club Westlandia. Seems a decent enough keeper, but with any luck he won't have to play.

Jean Sebastien Gomba (26) occupies the right back role. Has played 21 times this season, with two goals and three assists., Reasonably comfortable but far from outstanding defender. At the left full back role is currently [i]Loic Le Gars[/b], who is just 20 years old. Has played eighteen times and has one assist. He'll never be the greatest left back, but will do for now.

In the central defence we have Daouda Bamba. The Ivory Coastian is 25 years old and had been one of our best players this season. Has played twenty five times and is usually fairly reliable. Bamba's main partner this season has been Silas Billong. The thirty two year old has played 18 times and has been decent enough. Back up comes in the shape of Nineteen year old Christophe Le Tallec who was signed earlier in the season, but has only just broke into the first team and had played four times, and 20 year old Stephen Vianef who has only made one substitute appearance.

Fabrice Garin (31) had played a pretty solid role in the centre of the park, playing 22 times, scoring one goal and adding 2 assists. With new arrivals though, Garin is likely to me moved wide right where Cedric Rjillo (26) has played 25 times with varying success. Two goals and three assists from Rjillo is not really a great return for a winger. On the left wing, Alexandre Raineau (20) is a new signing and has yet to make his debut. He arrives from Caen, and it will remain to be see if he can fit into the team, at the expense of 28 year old Medhi Ben Ammar who has played 20 times for the first team and has two assists to show for his efforts.

Twenty two year Turk Mehmet Akyil is another new signing in the centre of the park, having looked half decent for his former club, a Belgian lower league side. He will be partnered by another January signing Igor Djoman (20) and hopefully these two can gives us something we have missed till now. Whatever that is.

It says a lot about the team that our top scorer has only seven goals. Two new strikers have arrived in January, nineteen year old Alexandre Baudrier and 21 year old Alan Le Borgne and it remains to be seen if they can improve the clubs scoring prospects. Jean Marie Eveno is the player with seven goals, from twenty two matches, whilst loanee from Niort Romain Jacuzzi has been distinctly unimpressive with his 1 goal from nine starts.

The team is not awful, but in general we lack a deal of pace and a lot of confidence. All we need is a little bit of luck, and hopefully the new players can bring that.

retired_hern1001

November – Cannes

The board were still pleased with my performances to date and unlike some of the other clubs in the league, we continued to return a profit over the past month. Okay, so it only was just short of £7,000, but it was still a profit.

On the footballing front, it would be a difficult month in November with games against highly rated sides Laval and Sannois SG as well as encounters with BobBev’s Martigues and Amaroq’s Nimes. Finally, we’d have a cup game against Ligue 2 side Amiens to round off a tough month.

First up were Laval in a match that had us rated as 7-4 underdogs. And it showed why as they complete overpowered us in the first half. Benhamou was on had to save the first few chances, but 21 minutes in, Gomes put the home side in front. Two minutes later, Diarra made it two from a free kick and to further compound our worries, it was three-nil in the 26th minute. We were utterly shell shocked after that and never looked like mounting a recovery. It was our first loss in five games, though only two of those had been wins.

The media billed us as huge favourites for the match against Sannois SG, despite the fact that they were in 2nd place in the league. Cérielo was out with yet another suspension after collecting three more yellow cards. I also shuffled the team around a bit, taking out the ineffective Kevaughn Connell and sending Braizat up front. Marino Promes would take over on the right wing. The game had the worst possible start for our opponents after they lost their star striker Efoulou to injury after a tackle by Schumann Bah. Three minutes later, Touré sent a long pass up field and Samuel Darchy rounded the Sannois goalkeeper to put us 1-0 up. Darchy continued to create trouble for the opposing defence, but it were the underdogs who got back in it. Benounes dribbled through our defence with great pace and no one was able to keep up. He calmly slotted it into the net to level things up again. Just before half time though, we won a free kick near the Sannois area and our specialist Diabaté made light work of it, sending it into the top corner. A killer blow that had our opponents reeling. They never really recovered. They did have one good opportunity when Bah played a poor back pass, but Algerian goalkeeper Benhamou was on hand to make a fantastic save. We responded with a great passing move that finally saw left winger Kadir score the third goal and seal the win.

Martigues were up next and while they hadn’t done too well under BobBev’s leadership, his assistant was in charge for this game and he had seen them near the top of the table under his reign. We got off to a great start when Marino Promes sent in a hanging cross from the right and Anthony Braizat was on hand to put it into the net. Our joy was shortlived though as we seemed to be celebrating still when Mangara took it straight through the middle and levelled things up. Martigues continued to create the chances in the first half and it was that man Mangara again who put them in the lead eight minutes from halftime. We tried everything we could in the second half, but when Braizat hit the crossbar and Darchy’s effort was cleared off the line, we ran out of steam and slumped to defeat.

Our match-up with Ligue 2 side Amiens was up next in the French Cup and I was very concerned. We would have a gaping hole in defence without our star defender and top scorer Lassina Diabaté. My fears turned out to right as Baldé ran through us. He had three clear cut chances in the first ten minutes with my defence all at sea. He scored the last of them after giving us some mercy twice. Traoré then fired in a thunderbolt of a shot to make it 2-0 and the side deflated quicker than a leaking breast implant. Balde added a third for Amiens in the second half and that was that.

Amaroq’s Nimes would be our final opponent in November and I was confident that we could reignite our season against them in front of our own fans. We got off to a furious start, but were unable to find the net, not even when their goalkeeper gifted the ball away to Braizat for a clear chance. We needed a little help from Dutch midfielder Martijn Kamps, who got himself sent off after bring down Mostovoy as the last man. When I saw the foul, the first thing I remarked was that it was a great spot for Diabaté. True enough, the defender went forward to take the free kick and deposited it past the hapless Nimes keeper for our first goal. Eleven minutes later, Darchy finished the job with a deft chip over the keeper and it was over.

retired_manragh

Clermont

A great start seen us hammer Toulon at home 4-1 a pleasing win but it had it downers with Aslan going out injured again, this time a pulled hami so he would be missing around 2-4 weeks.

Next us was Nîmes who was lead by Amaroq and we did something we hadn’t managed to do since the start of the season and that was to score an away win, Armand and Carlier both scored in the match, the 2-0 results moved us to 6th which was pleasing

The 7th round of the French cup seen us have another surprising win again away, this time it was PM7’s Vannes who suffered the unfortunate loss when we scored late in extra time.

Inconsistency once again rocked the team as we loss to Lohans-Cuiseaux who beat us at home despite us dominating possession and shots on goals, we did follow it up with a another good win away against Yzuere but a couple more draws and average results bored me so I sat in my office and hit the bottle hard to celebrate and early Christmas.

Before I knew it, it was January and I had the chairman Mr Michy standing in front of me looking worried.

‘I’m worried’ said Michy ‘Were in dangerous times financially for the club we’ve lost a million dollars so far this season and there doesn’t look like a respite is coming soon’

‘No crap’ I said ‘well that’s what you get when you hire twats and you let them have massive wage bills, not only has he done that but the players he got are retards and can’t play for crap’

Michy looked angry at my comments

‘I’m angry with those comments’ he said ‘Performance’s on the pitch had better improve or you will find your job insecure just like that guys over at Nîimes, Amaroq I think it is’

‘What ever’ I mumbled as he left, maybe there’s a job in Holland for me next season, I hear they have good legal drugs over there!

retired_hern1001

December – Cannes

With a third position in the league standings, the board remained pleased with my efforts, helped no doubt by the £35,000 profit we raked in over the previous month. There was some bad news as well when Cérielo suffered an injury that would keep him out for two weeks. Between suspensions and now injuries, he was starting to miss a lot of games.

Like the one against Louhans-Cuiseaux. Martin came in to replace him. We got off to a furious start with chances to Touré and Braizat early on. Neither managed to put it on target though. Frankly, we never let up throughout the match, but to our disappointment we couldn’t manage to score. Kadir, Mostovoy and Darchy all missed good chances and it was only bound to play into the home side hands. True enough with eleven minutes left on the clock, Joinville scored from a scramble in front of our goal and we were looking at a 1-0 deficit. That reanimated us like a bolt of lightning and finally, Kevaughn Connell managed to find the net in the 85th minute. A draw salvaged, but we seriously need some shooting practice after this rubbish.

I decided some reinforcement was needed, so I swooped to sign 34-year old veteran Pascal Nouma and also secured the signature of Sannois striker Alo’o Efoulou. The latter cost £50,000 and wouldn’t join until January, but he had a proven scoring record so far this season and couldn’t do any worse.

My sitting strikers clearly felt the heat and we scored three times in the opening 26 minutes at home against Yzeure. True, they were bottom of the table, but it was just what we needed. Braizat scored the first two goals, shooting from a tight angle first from the left and then the right to make it 2-0. He then provided the perfect cross for Darchy to make it 3-0. The guests hit back just after the break, but any chance they had at points went up in smoke when Odet was sent off with his second yellow.

The final game of the month saw us face up again struggling Vannes managed by PM7. In all respects it should have been an easy three points, but they tried their hardest to kill the game at every opportunity. A negative performance by the hosts and we were unable to break their sturdy defence. A bore 0-0 draw was the result and we slid down the table, out of the promotion spots, but still in close attendance should anyone ahead of us slip up.

BarryLFC

Paris Est

Having slumped to defeats in our two most recent fixtures, I was detemined to fortify my team ahead of what seemed to be an easier run of games. Again we approached the fixtures in a ten-game 'block', and though three wins, two draws and five defeats seems less than disasterous, two of those wins came on cup duty, and the other was against a side that later ended that 'glorious' cup run.

With Angers, Clermont, Cannes, Laval, Sannois and Toulon coming up, we were again hitting the rough stretch of our schedule. Fortunately there were some new faces in town to assist our progress.

Mehdi Lecreux, a striker, and Vincent Demarconnay, a keeper, were signed on frees just before the window opened. Twelve others were to follow in January.

William Levet signed on the recommendation of Nigerian defender Kolo Adams. He is a goalkeeper, not young, but with games behind him and, let's be honest, he could hardly fare worse than the last three.

Armand One arrived from Raith to provide the brute force we lack in attack. At six foot four he's a big lad, but he needs to show that he has the goalscoring touch if we're to survive.

Celso Ayala is a well-regarded Paraguay international who perhaps fancied a bit of the Parisien life. He may as well shore up our defence whilst he's at it.

Pierre Laigle is another international. The former France star has joined in a player/coach role, so I'm hoping he'll pass on his wisdom to the others.

Arnaud Marchand has been forced to the sidelines by incoming players at Vannes. Accordingly he will be afforded the opportunity to prove them wrong, whether in defence or midfield.

Alexandre Testa is a young goalie. One for the future and just fifteen.

Nicolas Tréguer was a big deal. A five figure sum was required to prise him from relegation rivals Châtellerault and he could well be the answer behind the strikers.

Yohan Delplas has bags of potential and will have chances to play on the left wing this year.

Thierry Audel was the gem of the collection. The Auxerre centre back was swayed by la vie Parisienne and I love it. Should be a rock for us.

Fernander Kassai arrived on loan from Le Mans to run the midfield engine room. A lot is expected of the Central African Republic international.

Julien De Araujo will shortly arrive on loan, again from Le Mans, to offer left sided options and monster long throws.

Philippe Liard is the final addition, due any day. A defensive midfielder, he offers something a little different, and his experience at Lille will stand him in good stead.

We can only hope that the new boys gel. Pius N'Diefi has jetted off for a month to recharge his batteries. To be fair he's been a one man team so far, and we need him back and refreshed as soon as possible. Our season could depend on it.

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Nice re-tool, HD!