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The enthusiasm at the club had become noticeable, Ed arrived at the ground on Tuesday morning and did a quick walk around to say hello to anybody who might be in this early. Once he’d tracked down a fresh croissant he settled into his office chair and skimmed through the sports pages of the local paper – whilst his verbal French was far from good, given the time to pick over the pages of the newspaper he could generally piece together a rough idea of an article.
He was feeling pretty good about things this morning, it was probably something to do with the league table - Pau were the only side with a perfect record, three wins from three games and the best goal difference in the league. Of course it was early days yet, and a defeat tomorrow night could change things dramatically, but the simple fact that his team had started the season so well meant that he had a little slack before he needed to start worrying.
Of course it was a long coach trip to Romorantin-Lanthenay, a town significantly nearer to the Channel than to the shadows of the Pyrenees in which Pau sat, and an overnight stay when they got there would give his doubts plenty of time to settle in.
Before they set out Ed had a chance to see his Reserves, under the guidance of his assistant - Brahim Naïmi, rack up a 2-0 win over the Roye second-string – he made a mental note to keep an eye on the impressive Nicolas Sartolou. The 23-year-old striker had never really broken into the first team but he was definitely a prospect and could come into contention if the small-scale injury crisis worsened.
Whilst crisis might have been a strong word to use the situation did indeed worsen, Gael Bonnel scored Pau’s goal in the 1-1 draw at Romorantin, twenty minutes before he had to be withdrawn with a twisted knee. Anicet Adjamossi followed after the break, and with their hosts levelling the score Ed found himself out of subs with over thirty minutes still to play.
It was easily the most nerve-wracking game so far – Romorantin sensed the points were up for grabs and threw men forward, but Leglib and the defence kept their opposition at a safe distance and battled out the draw to maintain Pau’s unbeaten record.
By now the results were almost secondary to Ed, he was losing a player a match and the squad depth was struggling. Both Bonnel and Adjamossi would be out for just a week but that was enough to mean that the weekend clash would see five senior players unavailable.
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If the injuries bothered the team it didn’t seem to show at the weekend, Valenciennes came to the Stade du Hameau and the 1800 strong crowd saw Pau back at their devastating best – Bédani opened his account for the season from the spot, and in the second half Millereau and Testas both added their own to the tally as another impressive home win was secured.
There was just one thing concerning Ed by now, with most of his pre-season nerves well and truly calmed he was puzzling over the lack of ability that he had to cover for the absent Aernoudt. He had gone through three or four different players on the left of the central midfield trio and none, it seemed, had been able to turn in a half decent performance even with Pau in truly dominant form.
The morning after the game he sat down with his coaching team to discuss the situation – it wasn’t that anyone played horrendously, but the youngsters involved all seemed to struggle to make their mark on the game*. Ed felt sure that, given time, his players would grow in ability but the momentum that Pau were building was something he wanted to maintain – with Aernoudt ruled out for most of the season he decided to turn to the transfer market and look for a ‘big name’ loan to try and complete what looked to be an otherwise strong midfield.
Despite several hours worth of phone calls between Ed, the club scout, and assorted Second Division sides, he was unable to secure anyone’s services for the season. The trips to and from Wasquehal were long drawn out affairs, from the south-west corner of the country all the way up into the northern tip on the border with Belgium. It was a long way to travel for a 0-0 draw, and an even longer journey when almost the entire time was spent in fruitless negotiations.
By the time the coach dropped him off at home, late on the Thursday afternoon, Ed had been away for nearly 48 hours and he had a headache. All he wanted was a cold beer and a hot bath. There was only one more game to go in August and his side were in rude health, in the league if not in the flesh, Valence had slipped past them again but they were firmly in the top places and making the pre-season doubters look rather silly so far. Smiling despite the headache, Ed slid down into the hot bathwater and allowed himself to doze.
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*Writer's Note: The infamous 'out of position bug' that plagues the early days of FM2005
“Can you believe the cheek of that guy?!” Ed slammed the phone down and turned to his assistant.
“Who was it?”
“Guy bloody David from Créteil. I’ve spent most of this week talking to him, I’ve made offers to loan three of his midfield reserves, not one of them has played more than thirty minutes football for the seniors, and not one of them would he let me talk to about loan deals”
“Ah I see, that’s annoying I guess”
“That? Oh no I’ve already got used to that, what’s annoying… infuriating even… is that now he comes to me wanting to buy Jacques”
“Jacques? Jacques Leglib?”
“That’s right, our first choice keeper, not missed a game, conceded only twice in seven matches… that Jacques Leglib, and he offers me a defender in exchange”
The conversation had really wound Ed up, did this Guy David bloke really think that they were going to hand over one of their prize assets? Ed was so consumed with disbelief that most of the game passed him by. This was probably no bad thing, Cherbourg made no secret of their intentions to flood the midfield and stifle any creativity that Pau might have shown. Of course with Cami out through suspension, and Bédani dropping back to cover for the absent Di Bartolomeo – out for a few days with a bruised head earned from a training ground clash – that creativity was already somewhat diminished and the game produced a goalless draw with both sides grinding out no more than a couple of chances.
Ed was sitting in his office enjoying a quiet moment when the phone rang, he’d been miles away – reliving the finer moments of the opening month’s performances – and the shrill tone brought him back to the present with a start. He realised, as he picked up the handset, that he must have drifted off completely.
“Hello"
……
"Sorry, who is this?"
……
"No, I’m sorry, I don’t want any… wait a minute, don’t I know you?"
……
"Oh I think I do, and that’s a terrible French accent, how are ya Gazza? Still flabby and farting?" He laughed as the former Spurs midfielder responded in suitably colourful language.
"What? Yeah it’s going really well mate, bit of a tough start to the season but I think it’s coming together now. What about you? Any plans for another comeback? You don’t fancy a player-coach role do you? I’ve got a spot open"
……
"Boston? Well I guess you can do a job there, just call me when they sack you, alright? Both men laughed at this, and then went on exchanging casual gossip for a few minutes.
"Anyway it’s been good to hear from you mate, and I wasn’t joking – if you end up at a loose end, you call OK?"
……
"What? Erm… no, no we’re not, we split up a few months back."
……
"I don’t know really, I mean she left a note but that was it, I haven’t spoken to her. No offence mate, but it’s really not something I want to talk about right now."
……
"Sure thing, you too Paul. Hope it goes well for you in Boston, speak to you soon OK?"
……
"Cheers mate, bye"
Well that was it then, the news wouldn’t stay quiet for long with Gazza knowing about it, not that it really bothered him – there were much more important things on his mind right now, Pau’s next two games would be against the current third and fourth placed teams and he had two of his defensive first choices away on international duties.
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Writer's Note: The Gazza thing doesn't fit into the timeline as such but this tale was originally started way back in the latter days of CM01/02 and I just decided to keep it in when I resurrected the story. Wrtier's perogative if you like.
Cheers Terk, I was going to try and pace the re-posting but what the hell, I'll get it all done in the next 2-3 days as I have so much more unposted to follow - as for the first season, didn't you hear? We won the Champions League
:eek:
It was a very different looking squad that travelled to Croix de Savoie, with Kangu and Adjamossi both out of contention the central spine of the midfield dropped back, Labat had to switch flanks, and Testas was brought into midfield to make up the numbers. Now the injuries were really telling and Ed could sense big problems for the game ahead.
Sure enough the game descended into the realms of nightmare for Ed. Once their hosts had identified the weak spots they set about exploiting them and all but killed off the game shortly before half time. After the break Ed had to completely reorganise twice, first with Testas withdrawn showing the signs of a knock, then when Elhadji Ba was given a straight red card for nothing more than a fifty-fifty challenge. The match ended up in a 3-0 win for the home side, on top of which the ‘curse’ of left-midfield seemed to be sapping the will to play out of anyone given the position.
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“What’s wrong monsieur Allen?” the chairman had travelled with the team to the game and he dropped himself into the empty seat next to Ed
“Well I suppose I’ve been waiting for this day and now it’s here I can see that we’re not really the team many people think we are”
“What? What foolishness are you talking? We have injuries, players on international duty, we fought hard today and for once we were found wanting – do you see me worrying myself yet? No”
“I suppose you’re right but…”
“But nothing monsieur Allen, if we lose only one game in every eight for the rest of the season I will be a very happy man. I don’t want you to dwell on this result, I want you to think what we have achieved so far and be proud. Of course, lose again next Saturday and I’ll have your balls” Le Coadou winked at Ed and shuffled back along the aisle to talk with the players.
Sitting at home Ed’s mind drifted back to the conversation with Gazza. Growing up in the streets of Huddersfield, his father had always tried to instil in Ed the importance of strong family and moral values.
“Now you listen to me Edgar Allen, when you find the right woman you get married and you stand by her. It’s a big decision, and it has to be made for the right reasons, and if you do that then it will work – just look at your mother and me”
Whilst, as his mates had often pointed out, he had grown up in a much more liberal society than his parents, he still held true to those values and it therefore struck him as odd, almost sad, that he could talk about Sonja’s departure in such an off-hand tone. He had loved her, in fact that was a stupid suggestion – he still did love her – but she obviously had her own ideas and so she was gone, just like that. Anyway, what was he doing thinking about that again? He’d been spending most of his time trying, quite successfully, to keep that topic out of his mind and he would do so again.
He had a big game coming up and he needed to do his homework, Nîmes were in seventh place but only a point behind Pau – a win would probably elevate Pau back into the promotion spots but defeat could see them drop almost to half way. The signs were mixed, Nîmes were unbeaten in four games but had injury and suspension woes of their own – although they had displayed an ability to score plenty of goals, their main scorer would miss the game.
On Ed’s side was the fact that Nîmes had a midweek game, a visit from twelfth placed Rouens, whose manager had decided to embark on a war of words with his counterpart. It didn’t seem to help the visitors and Ed, who drove east to see the game, was treated to a daunting sight – injury hit Nîmes smashing four goals past their guests who rarely got out of their own defensive third.
The week just kept getting worse for Pau, in Thursday training Millereau clashed with his marker in a practise match and twisted his ankle, by the time Saturday came around Ed was without six of his first-choice XI and his strike partnership was going out with a combined age of thirty-eight.
To say that he was expecting a bigger mauling than the Savoie game was an understatement, he took his place in the dugout and began to chew savagely on his nails.
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Eighty minutes, and three! penalties later the majority of Pau fans were leaving the ground with the game still in progress. From what he could understand of the French taunts being hurled their protest was not directed against their side, but against Pierre Tavelet – the referee.
Ed could sympathise, each of the penalties awarded to Nîmes had come from some friendly jostling whilst Pau were defending corners, and each had seen no serious action taken by the man in black – indeed the only bookings came for dissent, going to the understandably furious defensive line.
Rest assured Ed would be making a complaint of the strongest kind if he could get the French FA to listen to him* - without the ridiculous spot-kicks Bonnel’s goal would have earned Pau a point, as it was they left the ground on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline and with a first name on the newly penned ‘hit list’.
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*Writer’s Note: thanks for removing that feature SI
Now I wonder how your first season's going to pan out 
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