A City Football Group delegation held crisis talks with Kisnorbo during the week after a nightmare run of just two wins from 33 ganes since taking charge 11 months ago.

They opted to hand him a stay of execution.

However, such is the disconnect between Kisnorbo and the club’s supporters, it’s inconceivable to many locals how much longer he can be left in charge of a team which has lost 20 games during his troubled tenure and been relegated into the bargain.

Troyes hover just outside the Ligue 2 relegation zone on goal difference after a single win in nine matches, and it’s not just Kisnorbo feeling the heat, with many fans also calling for the exit of the CFG, which in 2020 made the club the 10th of its worldwide stable.

The rap sheet levelled at Kisnorbo going into tonight’s visit to Valenciennes includes assertions of sacrificing results in pursuit of a mysterious “project” supporters view as nebulous, failing to learn even rudimentary French - none of his assistants speak the lingo either - and an inability to motivate his players, many of whom are seen as too young and inconsistent to be part of a side seriously seeking a return to the top division.

Alan Mangin, of the L'Est éclair newspaper which covers the club, told FTBL: “The fans no longer believe in Kisnorbo or the City Football Group project. 

“There are too many defeats, then there was relegation in Ligue 2 and the owners did not react. The main problem is the lack of results, with two wins in more than 30 matches.

“A lot of people thought it was his last game on Saturday (a 1-0 home loss to Saint-Etienne). In any other club, Kisnorbo would most likely have already been fired. But the leaders of the City group seem to believe in him. 

“I still think that the coach is always threatened, in the short or medium term. What has to change first is to win matches, simply. 

“But I have the impression that the conflict between the suppoorters and Kisnorbo is perhaps too great for reconciliation to be easily possible.”

Supporters have unfurled ‘Kisnorbo Out’ banners in recent matches, and his lack of linguistic dexterity hasn't helped bridge the divide, with Mangin adding: “There is also the fact that Kisnorbo makes no effort to speak French.

“With his accent, many players have trouble understanding his instructions. And they are not helped by the assistants (Ralph Napoli, John Maisano, Liam Annett and Johan Liébus) who do not speak French either.”

There is also the issue of fielding what many fans feel are boys trying to do a man’s job.

“In France, everyone says that performing in Ligue 2 with young people only is impossible. I think City group and Kisnorbo underestimated the strength of this championship,” added Mangin.

Kisnorbo, amidst all the flak, remains defiant.

“For me, I have a job to do here. Make this place a place where players want to play for the club and the city,” he said in a mid-week press conference.

“A good training environment and to have good people here. I’ve said that from day one. With the group we have, we have everything you can ask for, especially from a very young group of players.

“That’s been my aim. If we can improve them, play a certain way and behave a certain way, that’s what my aim was. Everything else comes from these steps.

“The most important thing for me was to change this place. To be a club where players want to come. We have 12-13 academy players which is fantastic. It shows what we’re doing here at Troyes is good things. They’re playing first-team football.

“It took an Australian person to show how good Troyes can be with the young kids that come through the academy.

“No one has ever done this. So that’s what I’m proud of. I’m not from Troyes but I have Troyes people who want to play for the club. For me that’s fantastic.

“I want to win more than anyone. Remember where I came from, I won everything.

“It’s not about that. It’s starting something to get there. How do we get there? We have to start somewhere and this is the base. It’s hard for me too when you lose in the 90th minute or a mistake here and there.”