Marked for Simone Ardizzone
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Nov 2029
Position 16, 8 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
Out, 0‑3 to Anderlecht, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market5 Nov 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Francs Borains, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
Pressure builds in the Francs Borains boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match3 Nov 2029
No end in sight to Francs Borains's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Francs Borains has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces5 Nov 2029
Francs Borains are taken apart by Anderlecht — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Francs Borains may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Khalil Fayad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Nov 2028
Only the photograph left for David Schopper
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Schopper will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Francs Borains the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Francs Borains may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Khalil Fayad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ryan Fredericks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Francs Borains can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denilho Cleonise, and the manager let it.
Match11 Nov 2028
0‑2 to Standard Liege, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jun 2028
Racing Genk come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Francs Borains did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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 Francs Borains, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Anderlecht, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ryan Fredericks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Francs Borains asked and Union SG said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Jeovanni Dianganga 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 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Romain Vanhoutte and Francs Borains agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Anderlecht have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“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.