Chapuis: Cyril Sylvain Thierry (Cyril)

2003-2004 (Player Details)

Striker

Born: Lyon, France: 21-03-1979

Debut v Swindon Town (h): 24-09-2003

6’0” 11st 7lb (2004)

Chapuis started with Niort in the French Second Division, playing twice in season 1998-99 without scoring. The following season he scored four times in twenty-two appearances and once in three Cup games. He moved to Rennes in July 2000 and scored ten goals in thirty-two League games, but failed to score in three Cup games, in the 2000-01 season. After playing twelve League games for Rennes and scoring three goals and getting two more in four Inter-Toto Cup games in 2001-02, he departed for Olympique Marseille in January 2002 on a five year contract. He could not make the first team at Marseille on a regular basis and was taken by Manager Peter Reid on loan to Leeds in August 2003. At Marsaille he had played nine League games and one Cup game in 2001-02, without scoring, and then scored four times in thirty-three League games and twice in six Cup games in the 2002-03 season. He was far worse off at Leeds where he had few chances, one substitute appearance against Bolton Wanderers in the EPL, when he replaced David Batty at half-time. Then two appearances in the Carling Cup, a start against Swindon Town which lasted fifty-nine minutes before he was replaced by Michael Bridges and then a substitute appearance replacing Lamine Sakho on the eighty minute mark against Manchester United, when they were beaten 3-2 after extra time. While not troubling the scorers in any senior game, he had his finest hour in a friendly Testimonial for John Taylor at Cambridge United where he notched a second-half hat-trick the week before his only EPL appearance. He was sent back to Marseille in January 2004 after Reid was replaced by Eddie Gray. He was immediately loaned out to Strasbourg, where he scored once in nine League appearances in the balance of the 2003-04 season. He was loaned to AC Ajaccio in August 2004 where he scored three goals in twenty-one League appearances and made two appearances in the Cup, without scoring, in season 2004-05. At Marseille he had scored four goals in forty-two League appearances and although he was contracted to them until June 2006, he was released in the summer of 2005 and had trials with Rangers but eventually joined Belgian club FC Brussels for the latter part of the 2005-06 season at the end of January 2006. He joined Grenoble in the French Second Division on 18th July 2006, on a free transfer, where he scored five goals in twenty-eight League appearances in the 2006-07 season but joined FC Metz on an eighteen month contract on 4th January 2008. However, he was no more than a bit part player as the club failed to avoid relegation. He scored once in eleven League and one Cup games, and became unemployed at the end of his contract on 30th June 2009. He gained one France Under-Twenty-One cap in 2002. It came in the European Championship Finals Group B match on 19th May 2002 when France beat Greece 3-1 at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in Lausanne, after he had been an eighty-seventh minute substitute for Steed Malbranque in their 2-0 Group B match win over the Czech Republic at the Stade des Charmilles in Geneva on 16th May 2002. He later was an eighty-ninth minute substitute for Steed Malbranque in their 2-0 Semi-Final win over Switzerland at St.Jakob Park in Basle on 25th May 2002, and was the No.21 in the French squad for the Final which they lost 1-3 on penalties at the same venue on 28th May 2002, but he was unused.