Mike..

Ed stretched out on the leather sofa in his lounge and tore open the envelope. He knew what it would contain, his mother always used the same stationery and her letters always followed a familiar routine; a few bits of gossip, a couple of moans about his father (they were worse than Ed and his sister had been as kids), and then – usually – a cutting or two; she seemed convinced that he still kept the football scrapbook he had started when he was a ten-year-old. He skimmed through the neatly handwritten updates

…your sister’s been seeing this chap Colin for a few months now, looks like it might be getting serious…

He knew that, in fact he probably knew more than his mother, Lynne never really liked revealing too much about her love life to Mum, but she would tell Ed what was going on if he asked, and they spoke quite regularly.

…your father is useless, he nearly broke my washing machine when he was painting the kitchen window frames…

The usual then, he’d probably just knocked it with a ladder or something.

…do you remember Andy Smith from your high school? I heard from his mother last week, apparently he’s not been well – they think it might be an ulcer…

The name rang vague bells, but it couldn’t have been anyone that he’d been friends with – still, it wasn’t pleasant news for Mr Smith.

Then the letter went into the usual Are you alright? Are you sure you’re looking after yourself? Have you talked to anyone about the split?. Of course mothers are like that, he knew he couldn’t stop her worrying no matter what he did, but it still wound him up a little, even at his age.

Finally there were a couple of clippings, apparently ones that his father had spotted.

SPURS OLD BOY CAUSING A STIR

The clipping was from a long-running Spurs fanzine, although his parents still lived in Huddersfield his father had subscribed to the fanzine’s mailing list as soon Ed had signed for the club. It seemed that one of the writers had made it a habit to track down former players in a ’Where are they now?’ style, and the would-be investigative journalist had tracked Ed down to the French south-west. It was a flattering piece, and Ed allowed his ego to bask in its glow for a while, noting that it was dated just before the recent run of defeats.

The second cutting was equally pleasant, a 2-0 home win over Everton had seen his former club continue the unbeaten run that had taken them into a strong early-season sixth place. Ed had to admit that he’d been sceptical when Santini had been given the job – he’d hardly produced the goods from a star studded French national side, but he seemed to have taken to the Premiership well.

Reading through his mother’s letter a second time – not that he expected that he’d missed anything important – he decided that it was time for bed. It had been a long day.

With Pau almost back to full strength he’d been looking forward to a strong showing at Cannes but it had been a struggle, and Ed’s nerves were shot. The home side had launched a barrage of attacks that had kept the re-formed Pau defence alive all through the game. There had been the odd glimmer from his forward line, but the absence of Millereau was still telling. In the end he’d been happy to escape with a goalless draw, and he made a mental note to send the match stats to monsieur Tavelet – four corners conceded, and not one penalty!

Mike..

Had to re-quote that one as he was the first to spot the pun

Mike..

Good spot Monkfish (are you John Actor in disguise...?)



With the squad back to full strength, with the exception of Aernoudt, Ed had them playing practise matches of 7-on-7 and 8-on 8, he was trying to decide what his best strike pairing should be and he stumbled on an answer to his midfield dilemma. With Millereau and Tchami back he decided to go with their pairing, the one he’d marked as his first choice at the start of the season. With Bonnel available for the bench this released Testas and Ed realised that the youngster’s willingness to carry the ball might make him the perfect fit for the attacking midfield role that had proved so troublesome.

A 2-1 win over visiting Tours seemed to back up the manager’s thinking, Testas looked confident from the middle of the park, laying on Millereau’s opener and showing a lot of willingness to backtrack too. Combined with the fully fit defence the Pau squad looked to be back to their early season’s best and a stoppage time goal from Cami saw them back in winning ways despite the late consolation from the visitors

-----

Jacques Leglib was, in Ed’s opinion, the living embodiment of quiet modesty – but even knowing that he was astonished to learn after the game at Racing 92 that the keeper had just played his 100th league game for the club with absolutely no celebration of the landmark at all. What made it even more amazing, in Ed’s eyes at least, was that the keeper had been ready to simply pack his kit and head home after the 2-0 win – this after saving a penalty kick in the first half.

How many keepers, he wondered, would walk away from the centenary game, having saved a penalty and kept a clean sheet, and not even mention the fact?

Of course, once Ed was given the statistic, he had no intention of letting Leglib off and the post-match debrief turned into an impromptu party to see out the month and to herald the hero of the day.

The celebrations went on for some time, there was a palpable sense of relief all through the squad – after the dip in form they seemed to be heading in the right direction again and the month would end with them not far out of the promotion pack.

Mike..

SEPTEMBER 2004 SUMMARY

Croix de Savoie 3 (Dragacevac 41, Peslier 44, Durand 80)
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Lemasson (Savoie)
News: Elhadji Ba (Pau) sent off 61

Pau 1 (Bonnel)
Nîmes 4 (Rivenet pen 19, pen 39, pen 62, Yao 30)
Man of the Match: Rivenet (Nîmes)
News: Don’t mention the penalties!

Cannes 0
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Jaureguiberry (Cannes)

Pau 2 (Millereau 13, Cami 90+)
Tours 1 (N’Diaye 90+)
Man of the Match: Coquerel (Tours)

Racing 92 0
Pau 2 (Millereau 10, 75)
Man of the Match: Millereau
News: Apataki (Racing) missed penalty (saved)

Mike..

With two months of the season behind them Ed had arranged for a meeting with the coaching staff to go over the squad and see how things were looking – obviously things were pretty much as good as could be on the pitch but Ed had never been much of a stats man and he wanted to get other opinions, along with hard data, to back up or contradict his own thoughts.

On the whole opinions were fairly well matched, the general consensus was that Ed’s starting XI was about as strong as it could be, although he noted with interest that most of his coaches favoured bringing in Dieudonné Bikoyoi at the back over Adjamossi. Ed took this as being more out of concern for developing their own players, than a criticism of the excellent young fullback’s talents, but he agreed to take a look at Bikoyoi with a view to giving him some first team match time.

“Oh there is just one more thing boss, were you aware that we have the highest rated player in the league in terms of the official statistics?”

“We do?” Ed was taken by surprise there, he obviously believed that there were players performing above what was expected of them, but to have someone playing so consistently well as to be so highly thought of wasn’t something he’d considered. “Who is it then?”

“Well the bad news is it’s Cami…”

“Bad news? Why bad news?”

“Erm, because he’s suspended for the next game”

-----

Nicolas Cami was, indeed, suspended for the visit of Sannois SG, but if it had any great impact on the team then Ed must have missed it. The visitors had started strongly but once they’d scored they tried to sit back.

One of the things that had come out of the meeting had been the general opinion that Bert Tchami was considered to be the number one striker in the squad. This was a surprise, maybe, after the season that Millereau had put together so far, but then Tchami had been out injured for most of the campaign. He was back now though, and seemingly ready to prove his worth with a dazzling display that should have produced more than the two goals he ended up with.

After the game Romain Testas knocked on Ed’s office door – he ushered the teenager in and made sure that he was aware how highly he was rated for his contribution so far. The youngster looked embarrassed at this, and for a moment Ed thought that he was going to leave without discussing whatever it was he’d come to see him about.

“Look Romain, if there’s something you need to say, just say it”

Testas shuffled his feet a little, and looked around the room as if trying to find a friendly face – in the end he took a deep breath before speaking in broken English

“I am sorry monsieur Allen, but I am not very happy with the place that I’m playing in the team” he looked almost frightened, as if he expected to be bawled out “it is not my favourite position and I don’t think I can do my best job there”

Ed was puzzled by the youngster’s point, he looked a natural in the role, but obviously he fancied his chances better as a striker. He spent half an hour discussing things with the youngster, reassuring him that he’d done the right thing in coming to voice his concerns, and pointing out that he was behind Bonnel and the established pairing of Tchami and Millereau in the pecking order. He seemed accept his position fully, and went away a little happier.

Ed, on the other hand, knew that he had a minor problem to deal with again.

Mike..

International action saw Kangu and Adjamossi unavailable for the trip to Bayonne, Ed suffered more than his usual worries over how to redress the balance. The highly rated Bikoyoi was drafted in at the back with Di Bartolomeo, Bédani dropped back into the anchor role, and Ed was forced to bring in N’Zif and Abdoulaye Niang to the midfield trio – hoping that the returning Cami would prove an inspiration to them.

With so many changes, as had happened before, Ed feared a real mauling from their hosts so when Pau had come out charging, with Tchami grabbing an early lead from N’Zif’s through ball, he was surprised to say the least. If his team held any of the same concerns that he did then they weren’t showing it – after the opener they laid siege to the home side’s goalmouth and put the game out of reach in a devastating twenty-five minute spell.

Not only did N’Zif look comfortable in the ‘dreaded’ midfield role, he seemed to revel in it, his first goal for the club followed before Tchami again scored a second to stitch up the points.

Bikoyoi had, as his coaches had suggested he would, looked assured at the back and even the relatively green Niang seemed to relish the start and the responsibility that came with it. The only thing that could have made the day better would have been a goal for Testas who came off the bench to replace Millereau with twenty minutes to play.

Steady on Ed, the manager thought to himself, just be glad that they didn’t get slaughtered before you start complaining that you didn’t get the cherry on the icing on the cake!

Mike..

Frédéric Robin had completed his scouting assignment around the smaller French clubs and Ed wanted to have a chat with him to see if he could recommend anyone to strengthen the squad – he, like the coaching staff, was particularly concerned at the lack of depth in midfield. Despite the unusually good showing in their last game Ed was painfully aware that an injury to Cami or Bédani would have them scrambling to make do, and he would rather have at least one quality backup player before having to rely on less consistent options.

Although he had turned up a couple of promising youngsters they, like Testas, favoured the forward role and after further discussion the pair reluctantly agreed that there was no-one suitable on Robin’s shortlist. Ed decided that they needed to look further afield so he packed the scout off to England to have a look through the lower divisions, of course the transfer window meant that whatever happened, he would be unable to do anything just yet.

By Ed’s calculation that made it eight more games before he could arrange any additions to the squad, with seven men one booking away from suspension they were going to be walking a tightrope, starting with the visit of Besançon – a team who were struggling to find their form as supposed promotion contenders.

-----

Ed could sympathise with the travelling fans to some degree, although Pau clearly created the better chances it was from the spot that the damage was really done and – at a push – Ed would only have said that one of the two penalties were justified. That said he knew better than to turn down a gift and, after all, the result was reflective of the performances on paper.

His concerns over squad depth soon resurfaced again though, Niang’s booking and an injury to Adjamossi would mean more juggling for the penultimate game of the month.

Mike..

Ed lay in bed trying to read his book, but it was one of those nights when it just wasn’t going to happen. He’d made about four or five pages from the start of the chapter and he realised that he had no idea what he’d read.

Giving it up as a bad idea he tossed the book onto the armchair in the corner of the room – he was going over and over possible line-ups in his head, even though he’d decided to leave it until tomorrow and bring the coaching staff in on the decision.

Reaching across he clicked on the radio, his French – or lack of – meant that the native channels were next to useless but his digital set picked up a much broader range of transmissions. After a few moments he managed to locate Five Live, the English station were broadcasting one of their late night football phone-ins and Ed drifted off to sleep.

The radio continued to play for an hour, before clicking off, as a seemingly endless stream of Man United fans rang in to bemoan their form – a run of five Premiership games producing only one win, and their beloved Red Devils languishing in a modest tenth place.

-----

Ed woke the next morning feeling particularly bright, though he had no idea why. He showered, made himself some breakfast, and then jumped into the car. It was late October but the sun was out and the air was warm, his favourite sort of day – hinting at the winter to come, yet still mild enough to have the windows down and his sleeves rolled up.

His mood would only improve too, after a day spent on the training pitches pondering the best way to juggle the squad for the weekend game, he watched from the stands as the Pau reserves completed a 5-0 demolition of their Dunkerque counterparts. Not for the first time he made a mental note to keep an eye on Nicolas Sartolou – the striker had now reached six goals in eight reserve matches.

Mike..

A goalless draw at GFCO Ajaccio, whilst delivering another point, was a far from satisfactory for Ed. More disciplinary issues - he’d never been one to argue with Refs as a player, but they were testing his patience as a manager - meant that he spent the run up to the final game of the month trying to work out how to line up with no less than three suspensions, and six players one booking away from one.

It was really starting to get to Ed, it seemed that his side couldn’t get through a game without amassing at least three bookings. His players weren’t dirty, he wasn’t asking them to be particularly aggressive, but the officials just seemed to be very keen to dish out short sharp punishments.

-----

Ed breathed a sigh of relief, with so many changes made he’d set his team out to keep possession and, much as he hated to admit it, kill the game. Another goalless draw had been the reward, taking Pau into November in second place, but the future wasn’t looking too bright yet, suspensions were still being served and it seemed that almost the entire squad was walking the yellow card tightrope.

Mike..

OCTOBER 2004 SUMMARY

Pau 2 (Tchami 15, 53)
Sannois SG 1 (Mavua 12)
Man of the Match: Poinçon (Sannois)

Bayonne 0
Pau 3 (Tchami 17, 40, N’Zif 24)
Man of the Match: Tchami (Pau)

Pau 3 (Bédani pen 16, pen 68, Tchami 73)
Besançon 2 (Ouedraogo 19, Debrosse 61)
Man of the Match: Bédani (Pau)
News: Macio (Besançon) sent off 90+

GFCO Ajaccio 0
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Haaby (Ajaccio)
News: Touré (Ajaccio) sent off 62, Bédani (Pau) sent off 83

Pau 0
Rouen 0
Man of the Match: Sergent (Rouen)