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He should have been on his guard of course, with his team overachieving he was now a ‘face’ in the French game and when he was casually asked by a passer-by if he’d be interested in the job at Bordeaux he’d responded that of course he would. The next morning the headlines were in the nationals. The article, worth only a couple of column inches, dismissed his actual chances of taking the hot seat but suggested that his comments would increase the pressure on the under-fire Michel Pavon.

The switchboard at the local radio station was jammed with calls begging him to have a change of heart, and there was no shortage of callers to the club too. Ed had to apologise to Le Coadou for the fact that he’d been caught off guard by the press, if not for his actual comment on the matter – he knew that the Bordeaux job would be one he’d struggle to resist if it ever came his way, and he knew from previous discussions with the chairman that he wouldn’t be brought to task over that desire.

Ed spent a couple of days trying to stay out of the direct gaze of the local media, urging them to focus on the performance of the team rather than his own situation. The away win at Istres did no harm in that respect, Bakayoko’s early solo run and goal was one of few chances for Pau but he took it well and now the press had a second place berth in the table to get worked up about.

Bordeaux, meanwhile, managed a score draw on the road at struggling Amiens, hardly a result worthy of the five-time champions but it might be enough to take the heat of Pavon for a week or two and, in turn, allow the memory of Ed’s unwitting comment to start to fade. Of course the fact that he was about to lay off two of his coaches might make forgetfulness a rare commodity on the part of the local papers.

-----

It wasn’t something he was looking forward to, but he’d decided that he was establishing himself as the boss after two and a half years, so he’d sat down with Brahim Naïmi and discussed the coaching staff. So far he’d had no real complaints but the fact was that they were distinctly ‘small club’ coaches and he wanted to start preparing for future with some higher quality staff. He’d placed an appropriate advert and a handful of hopefuls had thrown their hats into the ring, including one or two surprising applications from overseas.

It was time to do the deed, thankfully the outgoing men took it well, accepting their pay-offs and leaving without a fuss. Now it was just a case of getting the new faces settled in and working with the players. Whilst a local French hopeful, Alex Faivre, would help with the first team his main responsibility would be the youngsters – the head coach for the seniors would be the former Cambridge United manager, John Beck. Ed was particularly surprised when he’d heard that Beck had applied, but he obviously craved a bigger stage than his Histon post was offering. It would be nice to have another Englishman around and he was hoping that the older man’s determination would help push his players that little bit further.

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JANUARY 2007 SUMMARY

Pau 4 (Tchami 20, 45, Testas 58, 81)
Albi 0
French Cup
Man of the Match: Bindi (Pau) [MC]

Bastia 1 (Toty 85)
Pau 2 (Cami 50, Bakayoko 65)
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau) [MC]

Pau 3 (Tchami 31, Bakayoko 32, Séga 70)
Brest 0
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau) [MC]
News; Repas (Pau) sent off 42

Istres 0
Pau 1 (Bakayoko 14)
Man of the Match: Leyti (Pau) [D/DM C]



Was waiting on the patch still when this was written, so I still can’t start posting tables at this stage.

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Ed stood on the sea-wall and looked out over the grey and choppy waters, it was early in the morning and his breath was turning to mist each time he exhaled. He’d decided on a quick run for the players before the trip back down south, he could use the air and he wanted them to clear their heads before sitting on the bus for a long journey home. He knew that they’d be feeling down after last night’s game but the truth of the matter was that they hadn’t played poorly, in fact most of the damage was done in a very short time and Le Havre had capitalised on the arguments in the back four after their first goal. He watched as they jogged back towards him and started to congregate, once they were all back he offered his words of wisdom, such as they were.

“OK lads let’s go get you lot showered and we’ll be off home. Before we go though, just remember that Le Havre are a half-decent side, we were playing on their turf, and most important of all – that was our first defeat in three months!” He was pleased to see that most of the players responded positively and the journey home would be a good opportunity now for them to put the game behind them.

As they travelled back Ed read the paper, and particularly the article on Bordeaux’s new manager – Eric Gerets. He hadn’t really come across Gerets as a manager so couldn’t form any early preconceptions of the man, but he hoped that he would show sufficient nouse to turn things around for his former club.

“Hey boss, maybe the papers will leave you alone now, right?” it was Nicolas Cami, leaning over from the seat behind.

“Yeah, I can only hope” Ed replied, and smiled to himself

-----

Sure enough, after Pau’s home draw with Valence, the only talk in the local papers was of the team’s performance, the new record attendance of nearly 11,000 and the upcoming Cup game.

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With the Cup bringing second division opposition Ed decided to go for a full team, especially as a win could spark a return to better form in the league. After the defeat at Le Havre it had been only natural that there would be something of a hangover but the quicker they shook that off the better. Unfortunately, if they were going to shake the dip in form, it wasn’t going to be in the Cup. A disappointing performance produced another early exit from knockout competition and Ed was somewhat annoyed by the fact that their best progress to date was still the run they’d had as a National Division side.

The first goal for Le Mans came in the last moments of the first half, it had hardly been a great game for attacking football and to concede at such a critical point was a bad sign. Sure enough the margin gave their visitors the momentum after the break, and Ed watched his side struggle to make an impact as the game descend into a midfield battle. He was still holding out hope - an equaliser could force extra time and give them the chance to break against tired legs - but when Hautcoeur scored he was off the bench voicing his protest to the fourth official, the midfielder had made a good run but he was clearly offside when the ball came in. The Pau players were furious and surrounded the Ref, a tactic that he personally despised in the vast majority of cases but here he felt it was totally justified. The referee was having none of it, two Pau players received bookings for their protests and the goal stood – not that it mattered much, with his team still clearly flustered the opposition stripped the ball from the kick-off and proceeded to run it up the pitch for an immediate third goal.

It was hardly the boost he’d been hoping for although, as with the Le Havre game, there really was little to complain about in terms of performances. Mathieu Valverde could maybe have given a better account of himself in goal, and Julien Labat seemed to be losing his command of the right side of defence, but other than that they’d played no worse than for the rest of the season so far.

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Labat was troubling Ed, as a critical part of the defence it was a concern that he seemed to be suffering from the workload, the simple fact was that he had started almost every game and obviously saw his own poor performances as letting the team down, in turn this was making him feel worse and the chances were that the situation would become self perpetuating. Ed tried to reassure him that he was in no way to blame for the slump, but he couldn’t seem to get through to him and he decided to make a tough call and rest the defender, despite him being fully match fit.

Once again it was a record crowd at the Stade du Hameau, with the attendance breaking the 11,000 mark for the first time, but once again it was looking like disappointment as Laval took the lead and defended deep to try and frustrate the home side. Ed was beginning to worry, not so much for their league position – which was still excellent thanks to the run before Christmas – but because of the effect on team morale. The fans didn’t seem too bothered, they were in fine voice, but he wanted to be able to deliver something more and it was a relief when Séga popped up in added time to fire home a dramatic equaliser.

Sitting in his office after the game Ed was trying to figure out what he could do, maybe shake the formation up a bit or swap the starting strikeforce, but he wasn’t sure that either would have much of an impact. As his mind filtered through numerous options his eyes drifted across the desk in front of him and settled on the calendar, for a moment he puzzled over the date, wondering why it was relevant, then he dived for the phone and hit one of the internal extensions

“Hey, look I’m really sorry, I just realised what yesterday was and… well we should have done something. How are you fixed for dinner tonight?”

……

“Yes it is important, it was Valentine’s and we should have done something”

……

“No, I know, but I’d still like to make up for it anyway, so dinner then?”

……

“Okay, I’ll pick you up from home, around nine. You get off now, I’m going to be here a while I think”

He hung up, she was being sweet about it and he supposed she was right, they’d only been seeing eachother for a few weeks but he still felt that he should have made the effort. She’d argued that he had more important things to worry about, and that was probably truer than he’d like to admit, but for now those things could wait – he’d already blown one good relationship, he didn’t want to risk doing the same to what was potentially another.

Ed stop it, you did nothing to push Sonja away, she just went – whatever her reasons were, they were her own doing

He wanted to believe that of course but, even after the note she’d left, he couldn’t help but feel that it had been his fault.

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“Morning Edgar, have a look at this” He’d only just walked in through the door and the chairman was waiting for him with a grin and a newspaper. “It seems that certain paths are destined to cross”

Ed took the paper and scanned the sports pages, quickly spotting the article in question. Ahead of their upcoming trip to Sedan their host’s manager – one Jacques Santini – had gone on the record to tell of the level of confidence in his camp and how assured they were of victory over a poor Pau side. Now Sedan may well have been in second place in the table, and they certainly did have a significantly stronger squad, but Ed was stung by the comments, particularly coming from the man who had nearly taken his beloved Spurs out of the Premiership.

Handing the paper back he muttered something to Le Coadou and made for his office, sure enough the local media had got hold of the story and he didn’t have to wait long for the calls to start. He bit his tongue when asked to respond, he would love nothing more than to slate Santini but the fact was, despite his Spurs record, the man did have a pedigree far beyond Ed’s – and his own team’s form didn’t leave him full of confidence for the game. In best diplomatic fashion he held back his anger and paid mild compliments to his opposite number. Then, with a broad smile, he settled down to read his scout reports for the game, five of Sedan’s regular starting line were either injured or suspended, including Aliadière and Liri – the thirty-goal strike partnership. Maybe, just maybe, this would be the game to get their season back on track.

-----

It might have been a genuine response, or maybe Santini had simply taken a look at his squad list and realised that he was up against it. Whatever the reason Ed was amused to see, on the morning of their game in Sedan, that the former Spurs boss had come out and stated how proud the Pau fans should be of him – he tried to take it as a compliment but something about it wound him up just that little bit, it was as if Santini was trying to humour the ‘little’ man but it just made him want the win even more.

Eighteen minutes into the game and the signs were good for Pau, Cami’s free-kick caused consternation in the Sedan area and the experienced Randriana panicked – just trying to hoof the ball clear, but finding his own net instead. A typically workmanlike goal from Tchami followed and, despite some good creativity from the home side, it went into the break with Pau well clear. For a while Ed thought it was all going to come unstuck, a goal from Colombian international Mahler Moreno reduced the margin to one shortly after the restart, but his team took it in their stride and remained calm, eventually turning the tide once again to heap pressure onto their hosts. With the fresh legs of Séga causing problems late on a tiring Sedan defence conceded a needless penalty and Bakayoko sealed the win emphatically.

Ed couldn’t resist it, when asked for his reaction to the game afterwards he abandoned all thought of modesty and went on the record to make it clear how he felt, that Santini wasn’t the manager that many thought and, dare he say it, there was still a lot that the Frenchman had to learn. It might not have been the kind of comment to earn him love and respect across the country, but by God did the Pau fans like it!