Marked for David Mindombe
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 2032
Supporters organise against the Mouscron board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Mouscron
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mouscron is running low.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Words exchanged at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joey Müller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market26 Apr 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mouscron know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
Jordan Sebban knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mouscron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
Mouscron keep producing them
48 graduates from an academy now rated 11 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Noah Rwabuzisoni is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Mindombe
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Apr 2032
Mouscron sink to position 15
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Lois De Bruyne was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Julian Demarteau and Mouscron agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Joey Müller falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout5 Apr 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eden Vertonghen, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Mar 2032
The mood at Mouscron has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad29 Mar 2032
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Mouscron
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mouscron is running low.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Words exchanged at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Christian Januzaj falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mouscron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 Mar 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mouscron know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
The manager makes Hans Chadli a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Mouscron. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The Mouscron production line keeps running
48 graduates out of an academy now rated 11 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Mindombe
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Mar 2032
A falling-out at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joey Müller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2032
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market15 Mar 2032
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad15 Mar 2032
Lois De Bruyne was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Joey Müller falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Mindombe
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match8 Mar 2032
Mouscron sink to position 15
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout8 Mar 2032
Jordan Sebban: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mouscron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Christian Januzaj falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad8 Mar 2032
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Hans Alderweireld is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Mar 2032
Anger at Mouscron spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad1 Mar 2032
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Mouscron
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
Solal Théréau: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mouscron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Mar 2032
A falling-out at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Januzaj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad1 Mar 2032
38 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Mouscron. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market1 Mar 2032
The name of Adnan Fellaini keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Mouscron say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Feb 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Mindombe
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Feb 2032
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad23 Feb 2032
Words exchanged at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad23 Feb 2032
A row about effort at Mouscron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joey Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets23 Feb 2032
The clock did what KAA Gent would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
The manager makes an example of Thomas Boyata
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market23 Feb 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Belmin Dizdarević signs something — a contract at Mouscron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
Conor McManus knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mouscron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Feb 2032
The wait goes on for Mouscron
27 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad16 Feb 2032
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match16 Feb 2032
The season ends: position 15 for Mouscron
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 9 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The dugout16 Feb 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad16 Feb 2032
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad16 Feb 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Mouscron can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Lois De Bruyne was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match14 Feb 2032
Mouscron cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match14 Feb 2032
KV Kortrijk left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Feb 2032
The wait goes on for Mouscron
26 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad9 Feb 2032
David Mindombe damages knee ligaments — 71 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 71 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match9 Feb 2032
Mouscron are in real trouble now
Position 15, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match7 Feb 2032
Beaten 0‑3 by KV Oostende, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad9 Feb 2032
A move Xander Rammant would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Xander Rammant is living that version at Mouscron, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market9 Feb 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mouscron can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Feb 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Feb 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Xander Rammant and Mouscron agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets9 Feb 2032
The window shuts on the Marlon Fossey deal
Mouscron ran out of time with Standard Liege. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Mouscron
25 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces2 Feb 2032
Supporters organise against the Mouscron board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad2 Feb 2032
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Pressure builds in the Mouscron boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
The clubs have shaken hands with Standard Liege; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Window shuts: 0 in, 1 out at Mouscron
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mouscron have done the hard part with KAA Gent, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad2 Feb 2032
A falling-out at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Feb 2032
A row about effort at Mouscron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joey Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Mouscron
24 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 Jan 2032
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market26 Jan 2032
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jan 2032
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mouscron will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 Jan 2032
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market26 Jan 2032
Only the photograph left for Simon Boyata
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simon Boyata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mouscron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets26 Jan 2032
An offer of $360.0K for Michy Doku
Mouscron have gone to Anderlecht with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Words exchanged at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jan 2032
No end in sight to Mouscron's wait for a win
23 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mouscron has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Mindombe
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Jan 2032
9 matches without a goal for Mouscron
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets19 Jan 2032
The clubs have shaken hands with KV Oostende; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market19 Jan 2032
Simon Boyata hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mouscron can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad19 Jan 2032
Lois De Bruyne was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Jan 2032
22 matches without a win for Mouscron
The run now stands at 22, and the questions being asked around Mouscron are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Jan 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Mindombe
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 37. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match12 Jan 2032
Every point is an argument now for Mouscron
Position 14 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad12 Jan 2032
A fracture rules Radja De Bruyne out for 25 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mouscron will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Jan 2032
The goals have deserted Mouscron
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mouscron can tell you which week it ends in.
Market12 Jan 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Waasland-Beveren waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mouscron is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Jan 2032
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Standard Liege have kept their man, and Mouscron go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Mouscron
21 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces5 Jan 2032
The mood at Mouscron has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad5 Jan 2032
David Mindombe damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad5 Jan 2032
A fracture rules Radja De Bruyne out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mouscron will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Jan 2032
7 matches without a goal for Mouscron
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market5 Jan 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mouscron can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
Everything agreed with Standard Liege, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad5 Jan 2032
A falling-out at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Mouscron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan David Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Dec 2031
20 matches without a win for Mouscron
The run now stands at 20, and the questions being asked around Mouscron are no longer polite ones.
Squad29 Dec 2031
David Mindombe damages knee ligaments — 113 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 113 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad29 Dec 2031
39 days out for Radja De Bruyne after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mouscron will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market29 Dec 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match27 Dec 2031
The goals have deserted Mouscron
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mouscron can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Joey Müller falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match27 Dec 2031
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Looking ahead29 Dec 2031
A six-pointer for Mouscron
Waasland-Beveren next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Dec 2031
The wait goes on for Mouscron
19 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad22 Dec 2031
120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Dec 2031
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad22 Dec 2031
46 days out for Radja De Bruyne after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mouscron will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market22 Dec 2031
Joey Müller hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mouscron can pretend not to have heard.
Match20 Dec 2031
Mouscron cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Dec 2031
Lois De Bruyne was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Dec 2031
18 matches without a win for Mouscron
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Mouscron are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Dec 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Mindombe
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match15 Dec 2031
Mouscron sink to position 16
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match13 Dec 2031
0‑3 to Standard Liege, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Dec 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Mouscron can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad15 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Dec 2031
4 matches without a goal for Mouscron
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
The manager makes an example of Lois De Bruyne
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Dec 2031
17 matches without a win for Mouscron
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Mouscron are no longer polite ones.
The terraces8 Dec 2031
The mood at Mouscron has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad8 Dec 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Mindombe
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Dec 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan David Angulo and Mouscron agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Dec 2031
A falling-out at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joey Müller is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match6 Dec 2031
Mouscron cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match6 Dec 2031
Racing Genk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
The manager makes an example of Eden Vertonghen
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Nov 2031
The wait goes on for Mouscron
16 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad1 Dec 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Mindombe
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Mouscron
Lois De Bruyne and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Joey Müller falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Mouscron dressing room was either.
Market1 Dec 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mouscron, another week without a signature from Solal Théréau.
Match29 Nov 2031
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Lokeren came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market1 Dec 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Belmin Dizdarević signs something — a contract at Mouscron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Nov 2031
15 matches without a win for Mouscron
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Mouscron are no longer polite ones.
Squad24 Nov 2031
148 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Nov 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
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Squad24 Nov 2031
Lois De Bruyne was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan David Martínez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match22 Nov 2031
0‑1 to OH Leuven, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Looking ahead24 Nov 2031
Everything rides on Lokeren
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Mouscron know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.