retired_bbcarr

“It’s certainly tempting, Jacques. I want to get back into the game as soon as I can.” I sipped my coffee slowly as Monsieur Le Coadou thought over his resposne. Though the sun was beating down from the clear sky, there was still a chill to the January air.

“I cannot offer you much. We have not won a game since October, the press say we cannot do anything to avoid relegation.”

“Money is not my motivation here, Jacques. I do want to get back to the top level soon though.”

“You could sign just a month to month contract. If any Ligue 1 side come in for you, I would never stand in your way.”

I drained my coffee and quickly ordered another. Looking around me, I could certainly enjoy living in such a place, indeed I could do so for perhaps longer than my professional ambitions would allow. Whilst a return to the Premiership and the gaze of the English media was perhaps still a way off, there were plenty of other top leagues for me to ply my trade in.

Jacques had taken my silence for hesitation over the position. “We are financially in a good position, better than many others in the league. I could offer you €750,000 to improve the squad. And we have a good assistant, Brahim Naïmi. All I ask is that you do your best to keep us in the National league.”

“You have yourself a new manager, Jacques.”

retired_jgirl87

I thought I'd stumbled into flipper's "Leaving the past behind" story by mistake, but I can now see that you have decided on a clean start with Pau. Good luck with your rehabilitation, Terk. :thup:

retired_bbcarr

When the chance to go to Pau came about, I just couldn't turn it down, Spav. I figured it was the proper way to pay homage to flip and his tale

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“Is it just me, or do we have no left wingers?”
“Mourad N’Zif can play there.”
“But then we’d have no right winger.”
“True. We have been looking at a couple of players, Cédric Faivre at Fontenay and Youssef Sekour at Bordeaux.”
“Get bids in for both of them.” Brahim had been talking me through the squad as I watched them train for the first time. It didn’t seem the worst of squads, perhaps a little light in attacking options, but with players like Nicolas Cami, Jacques Leglib and Christophe Walter, it was difficult to see why Pau had got themselves into such a poor position. The news, however, that defenders Lionel Bah and Eugène Kangulungu had just been called up by the Ivory Coast and Congo respectively for their African Nations campaigns, was not greeted with pleasure.

--

“Take a seat, Brahim.”
“Thanks. Cédric has just put pen to paper. He won’t be available for today’s game, but he’ll be fine for Wasquehal on Wednesday.”
“What about the others?”
“Sekour and Kébé? Both trained with us yesterday, they’re available for selection.”
“OK, thanks.”

Preparations for my first game in charge of Pau had gone as well as could be expected, Gaël Bonnel had recovered from a slight thigh knock to take his place up front, Sekour had arrived to plug the gap on the left flank and we’d managed to do as best we could to cover for the absence of Bah, in particular in defence. Our opponents for the day, Cherbourg, still had their eyes on promotion, sitting fifth in the table and determined for a win over ourselves to keep their push going.

Nicolas Cami hampered my plans somewhat in the warm-up for the game as he took a blow on the ankle which ruled him out, I had planned for the midfielder to take the captain’s armband, so that honour was passed to Damien Moulin with Christophe Walter as his vice. We began the game promisingly, though our five man midfield was having difficulty stamping its authority on the game. We did take the lead, Walter prodding the ball home after a fantastic cross from Vincent Bounayre, but it wasn’t enough for the three points, Amara Ahmed Ouattara grabbing an equaliser for the visitors in the second half.

retired_bbcarr

There had been many positives aside from the result to take from the draw with Cherbourg. Loan signings Youssef Sekour and Yahia Kébé, both joining us from Bordeaux, had looked very lively, though Kébé had been restricted to only twenty minutes as a substitute. I was concerned about our midfield though, or more accurately, the centre of it. We had difficulty getting and keeping hold of the ball and imposing ourselves on the match. What that meant was that I was certain to stick with the 4-5-1 for the moment, if we didn’t have the talent, I’d just try and flood our way to superiority and hope that the return of Cami for the trip to Wasquehal gave us the guile we needed.

It was to Villeneuve-d’Ascq that we travelled for my first away game in French football, the Stade Lille Métropole instantly finding my dislike with its lack of a roof and running track separating the pitch from the stands. Having looked at the tables for the previous three seasons on the coach to the game, and having found that the survival rates had been between forty-two and forty-six points, I was distinctly less impressed with our current twenty-five point haul.

With Cédric Faivre, Bertrand Tchami and Cami coming into the starting line-up, Cami taking the captain’s armband, I was a little more hopeful of getting something from the trip, despite Wasquehal’s lofty position in the table, and my confidence was well founded as we frustrated them throughout the match, Jacques Leglib impressing greatly in keeping our first clean sheet of the season. Taking two points from teams involved in the promotion battle had let me know that we had a chance of staying up, now we just had to back the good start up with some wins.

Our first chance to get such a win came when fourth placed Rouen visited the Stade du Hameau. New signing, Chad international midfielder Djamal Bindi, brought in from Bayonne for just £5,000, was drafted straight into the starting line-up in place of the injured Vincent Di Bartolomeo whilst Yahia Kébé came in for Tchami up front. The decisions to play both paid off in the first half, Kébé speared us into the lead with a long range shot after thirteen minutes, and that lead was doubled just before the half hour when Bindi played in Cami and the captain slid his shot beyond Olivier Sorin. Rouen’s first defeat in eighteen games was pretty much confirmed when they had Essole sent off for a second bookable offence with thirteen minutes left, and though the win saw us remain down in nineteenth, the confidence could be felt flowing through the squad.

retired_bbcarr

January 2008 Results:

(National unless otherwise stated)


Pau 1 – 1 Cherbourg
(Walter 33”; Ouattara 69”)

Wasquehal 0 – 0 Pau

Pau 2 – 0 Rouen
(Kébé 13”; Cami 29”; Essole s/off 77”)

retired_embartl

I can pay testiment to that, the castle is indeed lovely and the city beautiful if littered with a smidgen too much dog poop. Mais c'est la vie in France sady.

Anyway, shame about the Arsenal and drinking woe, but here's a to a resurgence avec Pau! :thup:

retired_thpgal

Sequels rarely live up to the first, but this is an exception to the rule. If it continues as it has started it will better part one of the trillogy

retired_bbcarr

Cheers for the praise, Tyrone I certainly hope it lives up to your expectations. BoN, I've only been through Pau but it did seem like a lovely place.

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“You seem miserable.”
“And you look great too.”
“Seriously, you’ve been moping about all morning.”
“We lost yesterday.”
“Boo hoo.”
“You don’t get football, do you?”
“I don’t get how ninety minutes can ruin someone’s entire weekend.”
“It can ruin a whole lot more than that.”

I did, at least, have good reason to be miserable. The trip to league leaders Châteauroux had taught me exactly how far we had to go. A class above anything I had previously faced since moving to Pau, we were two goals down by the interval with a third added in the second half. To compound things, new signing Djamal Bindi was helped from the field in the closing minutes with a hip injury which would keep him out for three months.

“How’s Andy?”
“Do we need to do this every time?”
“I’ll only stop asking when you dump him and take me back.”
“He asked me to marry him.”
“Congratulations.”
“I said no.”
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“Would a celebratory dance be too insensitive?”

retired_Andrea

Enjoying the read so far mate, KUTGW :thup:

retired_bbcarr

apologies for the delay in posting, had a lot to deal with of late

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The news of the demise of Hannah’s relationship kept me in a good mood for days, even after she had returned to her native shores. Though hardly very sensitive, I couldn’t help but focus on the potential road it gave me back into her affections rather than the pain and distress she must have been going through.

My pleasant disposition was only improved after we next took to the field as well. A brief exchange in the media with Franck Silvestre, manager of our next opponents, Martigues, had seen me praise the man despite never having met him and knowing nothing about him. Lionel Bah, returning from his stint at right back in the African Nations winning Ivory Coast side, started his first game for me with Nicolas Cami coming back into midfield. They were two changes which saw us have both a far more solid base, and provide much greater attacking threat, as was evidenced by the three goals we won by, Kébé, Bounayre and Sekour netting.