Mike..

Cheers lads, and rest assured binny - I am somehwere further down the road than the posted story so far but nothing will be revealed until the time is right



Bédani, Labat and Bonnel all signed new contracts quickly, Ed had decided – at this stage – to only offer extensions to those players with a year remaining on their deals. For those with more he didn’t really see a need yet, they may be back in the National in 12 months time – he would review their deals in the winter break – the one exception being Cami, he wanted to get the playmaker’s contract signed as soon as possible. He was still waiting on Kangu and, more importantly, Jacques Leglib. The good news was that Monsieur Le Coadou had agreed to lift the salary budgets but, with only certain players being offered new deals at the moment, he was loathe to use such tactics unless absolutely necessary.

The period of negotiations also saw Ed try, once again, the temp Khalifa Ba into signing on a permanent basis – once again the Senegalese defender suggested that both parties were close to reaching a mutually agreeable deal, but he wouldn’t go as far as to say how big the gap was. Ed was growing impatient of the gamesmanship and made it clear that his latest offer was his last – he desperately wanted the teenager on board but there was only so far he was prepared to go.

One person was still giving Ed more worries than anyone else though, Matthieu Aernoudt. Despite the fact that he’d played in every game since his recovery, the midfielder was still apparently making noises about his role at the club. After discussions with his coaching staff Ed eventually decided to bite the bullet and test the youngster’s resolve – truth be told his form hadn’t been great, and Mahamat Bindi had shown that he was more than a match if the two were fighting it out for a spot. After resisting three requests from the player himself, Ed finally put Aernoudt up for sale, along with two or three of the Reserves.

Mike..

He’d tried hard to avoid getting into ‘big’ money deals but he was getting desperate on a couple of players, Kangu had signed up but it was becoming ever clearer that Khalifa Ba was slipping out of Ed’s grasp. Leglib and Cami were playing hardball too, and Ed was running out of options – it would be far harder to sign new talent than it would be to secure the existing squad and, eventually, Cami became Pau’s first ‘four figure’ man by signing a three year deal worth £1000 per week.

The only one left now was Leglib, Pau’s talismanic keeper kept pushing Ed further and further on offers but, like Ba, wouldn’t actually say what he wanted – when the media speculation started too, he began to get a little worried. Jacques had shown no desire to move, indeed he had repeatedly indicated that a deal could be done, but two or three clubs were now sniffing around and Ed was on edge over the whole thing.

It didn’t help that he’d had no word back from his scouts yet regarding new talent, ideally he wanted a couple of new faces at least but his contacts were out roaming France and Germany and, so far, he’d not had so much as a phone call to say hello.

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The first bid for Leglib came in two days later, Bastia offered a paltry £60,000 up front but with a further £350,000 over two years. The total value of the deal was actually a decent figure, and as an up-front offer might have tempted Ed to start looking around for options, but he had no interest in spread payments. If he was going to sell anyone of Leglib’s quality it would have to be for cold hard cash.

Obviously Leglib didn’t like all the messing around either, to the point that he went on the record to say that he anted matters settled so that he could concentrate on training and the like, Ed was delighted until he managed to get his head around the rest of the statement – the part where the keeper said that he would be interested in a move to Montpellier. All Ed wanted to do was coach his team, and take pride in their actions on the pitch – he was beginning to grow weary of the other side of management already.

Mike..

By the time the fixture list was drawn up things hadn’t progressed a great deal in terms of playing staff. The Leglib saga was still up in the air and the scouts were yet to turn up any significant targets. Ed sat at his desk and tried to convince himself, once again, that everything would be OK. As he looked down the fixture list again his phone rang, the light flashing indicated that it was his secretary.

“Hello Catherine, what is it?”

………

“Really? Who?”

………

“Well that is interesting, you’d better put him through”

………

“Khalifa? Hello, how are you?”

………

“Well that’s very sad, I’m sorry for you”

………

“You would? Well I think we could probably find a spot for you, but I do have others that I’m talking to”

………

“No, nothing definite yet, I’ll tell you what – why don’t we meet for lunch tomorrow? My treat”

………

“Okay, I’ll see you then”

Ed hung up the phone and rubbed his hands together, maybe something would go his way after all. Khalifa Elhadji Ba had been released by Marseille and, all of a sudden, he found himself without a club. A week earlier Ed had been trying to tempt the defender with a deal worth nearly £1,000 per week, two days later he would sign on for less than twenty percent of that figure

Mike..

Things were not so bright on the Leglib issue, Montpellier decided to break their silence and came in with a bid worth £550,000. It wasn’t an all-cash deal but there was a healthy lump sum up front and, with the cash that the club had been given from TV rights, the bank balance was looking healthy – add in the steady source of income for 2 years worth of instalment payments and Ed had decided that it was worth the risk – he would have to go in search of a new keeper if Leglib decided to go.

Almost as soon as the news was out Ed received a further phone call, this time from the management team at Guingamp – they wanted to know the price on Leglib. Ed was frustrated by now and, like the keeper, he wanted things done and dusted. The Montpellier bid was worth a total of £550,000 and Ed couldn’t be bothered with talking details, he gave Yvon Pouliquen the total figure – the next day he accepted their matching bid, all cash up front.

With his fate still undecided Leglib took to the bench for Pau’s one and only arranged friendly, at home to Laval – a team they wouldn’t face in the league until late October. There was no new blood to include in the team, and with Adjamossi back at Bordeaux, Ed had to juggle the defence somewhat. Nicolas Griffouliere was given the number one jersey as, somehow, Ed couldn’t see Leglib opting to stay now.

The conditions were pretty awful, it was a scorching hot day but there was a howling wind coming down off the Pyrenees that was sure to hamper any real attempts at flair play.

Only Bindi was missing form the team, he’d picked up a slight knock in pre-season training, and Ed was hoping for something of an indication of how his lads would fare in their new environment. The way his squad started delighted him, there were no signs of nerves and an early strike from Tchami could do nothing but boost their confidence. The second half was less one-sided, Laval came out to attack more freely and quickly levelled the scores, only for Cami to restore the lead moments later – but the difference in class, and fitness, was beginning to show and the scores were tied again as the hour mark ticked by. It stayed level to the end, although the introduction of Bonnel and Testas caused a brief closing down of the Laval defensive line – who had been getting a little adventurous.

All told it was a useful game for Ed, and one that settled some of his nerves. Laval were seen by the media as strictly mid-table – if his team could earn a draw against such opposition then they weren’t so very far away from what would be needed to survive, with or without their first choice keeper.

Mike..

It was good to be back in full training. The occasional fitness session over the break had helped to keep him active but he’d just about had his fill of phone calls, contract negotiations, and reports to fill out. What he was most looking forward to was testing his squad against their Division Two counterparts.

With a lack of further friendly propositions he’d hit upon an idea and proposed that the club open their gates a couple of weeks before the season kicked off. He suggested an ‘open day’ to try and boost local interest in the club, a ‘meet & greet’ followed by a friendly game between his first team and the Reserves. Le Coadou had liked the idea and added his own touch, arranging for a friend’s catering firm to provide a post-match barbecue-cum-buffet for anyone who came along to the event.

He’d still like to make a couple of signings although funds were tight, Leglib was still to make his decision, so he was now working his way through a few potential loan deals. He wanted to move fast and get anyone that he could on board before the game.

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The line-up for the inter-club match would include one new signing at least, Ed wanted a little bit of experience in what was a very young squad and he picked up 32-year-old Mickaël Michel on a free transfer. Eyebrows were raised but Ed had been careful to offer the veteran nothing more than a squad role and he hoped that the hard-tackling midfielder could add, if nothing else, a bit of depth – something they were sadly lacking. Jacques Leglib would not be pulling on the ‘yellow & blue’ again however, the lure of a big money move to Guingamp had proved to be too much and the keeper would not be seen by the Pau fans until the second match day of the new season.

The sale of Leglib meant that Ed had money available and with only one goalkeeper on the books his priority was to get backup in, that was when Frédéric Robin decided to let him know about three very different possibilities for him to consider. Ed looked over the files on Florent Chaigneau and Sébastien Hamel – Hamel had just left Auxerre, having failed to put pen to paper on a new deal, and Ed stepped in immediately with the offer of a trial. Chaigneau looked a good prospect at Rennes and might, potentially, be available on a long-term loan. The third name on the list needed no further consideration and Ed made an immediate phone call and offer – the proposal was accepted and a contract offer was drawn up and faxed over. Ed wasn’t holding his breath, but if he pulled this one off he’d be a very happy man.

Mike..

Things seemed to grind to a halt on the goalkeeper front so it was Griffouliere who got to start in the ‘open day’ game as the first team took to the pitch against assorted reserves and triallists*

Ed knew from the practise pitch that the game would be no walkover for his starting line-up and, despite a very early goal, Brahim Naïmi’s defence overcame the extremely windy conditions to acquit themselves well. It was true that the Reserves failed to mount a meaningful attack but they held their senior colleagues to 1-0 until very late on when Matt Aernoudt and Bertrand Tchami struck quickly to make the scoreline more impressive.

There were a number of positives for Ed; Aernoudt’s performance after coming on as a late sub, a strong showing from the ‘forgotten’ Anthony Gardan at left fullback, and the continued creativity and sheer precociousness of Nicolas Cami. The Gardan situation was particularly pleasing, with Adjamossi’s dominance last season there’d been no rotation of roles on the left of defence and Ed was now looking for the best man to take the place on, Gardan looked like he wanted to be that man.

The only disappointment of the day was the turnout from the fans, only a couple of hundred bothered to show up, but Ed supposed that the freak gales that seemed to be lashing the region might have been a factor in that.

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*Writer’s Note:You know the ones, grey tracksuits, very secretive

Mike..

Ed sat and looked at the papers spread in front of him on the desk, it looked like they were going into the season with only Griffouliere in the frame as a keeper. Florent Chaigneau had looked down his nose at Pau’s offer of a loan move, whilst Hamel was making negotiations difficult by revealing that he had offers from First Division sides on the table. As for the attempted transfer coup, well that had come to nothing too, despite having zero impact on the first team at Marseilles, Pegguy Arphexad had made it clear that Ed couldn’t get close enough to meet his needs.

He was running out of options fast and he resorted to a tactic that he hadn’t wanted to use. He’d remained friends with Philippe Goubet, the scout who had brought him to Bordeaux from White Hart Lane. He rang his friend and asked if he might know of any keepers in the market for a trial, possibly players toward the end of their careers looking for a last shot.

Unfortunately, Philippe advised him, he was all out of ideas – but he did know that the Bordeaux manager was looking at getting rid of Mathieu Valverde, a young keeper who he actually thought might be worth a look. Ed didn’t need a second invitation, for starters he was getting desperate, and if there was one man he trusted in the French game it was Goubet – he fired of an emailed offer and waited.

Mike..

Valverde agreed terms with Ed in the Pau boardroom, the day before opening matches of the season. He was too late to register for the game against Istres but he travelled with his new team-mates to the coastal town of Fos-Sur-Mer to see them in action. With Valverde ruled out, and a couple of suspensions carried over from the previous season’s run-in, Ed posted a fairly unfamiliar teamsheet in the changing rooms.

Griffouliere; Labat, Gardan, Kangu, Ba; Bédani; Michel, Bindi, Aernoudt; Millereau, Tchami

The midfield was a bit of a gamble but with Cami unavailable he decided to opt for the experience of Michel over Abdoulaye Niang who had more time with the team, but had never really shown much to shout about. If he’d been nervous ahead of his National League debut, he was petrified now…

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It was hard not to be disappointed as the players boarded the coach for the trip home, yet if anyone had offered him a share of the points from a six-goal game a day or two ago he’d have snapped their hand off. He had to put things into perspective, his side had earned a hard-fought point away from home, playing at a level that was frankly beyond them, and without two or three of last season’s leading lights. It was probably fair to say that Millereau’s opener, with just three minutes on the clock, had rattled their hosts – most times a 30 yard strike would have little chance of beating the keeper, but Rudy Riou had been unsighted by his defence and the ball had, indeed, found the net.

Istres had responded quickly, only to have Tchami restore the lead, all this inside 20 minutes. The game had settled down after that, the home side clearly possessing superior pace and creativity, but struggling to find a finish – obviously flustered by being behind. Parity was restored briefly, after a scramble on the edge of Pau’s 18-yard box, and when Tchami was accused of diving for the second time the game looked to be slipping away from the minnows. Ed was furious that the Ref had booked Tchami on both occasions, no previous warnings, no quiet word in the ear - just two offences (one of which looked justified, one a completely genuine foul to Ed) and two bookings.

Pau faced 30 minutes with 10 men, but when Millereau headed home Bindi’s cross it seemed that they could spend that time defending a lead… not so – it took Istres just three minutes to haul themselves back for the third time in the game. That seemed to take something out of Pau, there was a feeling of inevitability, of knowing that they simply couldn’t hope to maintain a lead. Istres slowly turned up the pressure as their superior fitness started to show, the Pau back line were dead on their feet and Griffouliere was saved by the woodwork as they clung on for the point.

retired_embartl

Well an exciting opener anyway, better hope this Valverde's up to scratch

Mike..

I have a bit of a history when it comes to losing keepers - in my days at Cittadella (CM01/02) I seemed to lose them at an alarming rate, in fact it goes right back to my first story when Keith 'Judas' Welch walked out on my Northampton side.

All being well, however, Matty V will do the job