Marked for Sacha Contena
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SC Bastia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silas Gnaka 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
“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.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Johny Placide asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Peter Ouaneh’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and SC Bastia needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at SC Bastia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Jordan Poha: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one SC Bastia will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Peter Ouaneh has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Peter Ouaneh has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Market19 Apr 2027
“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 SC Bastia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
Ricard Artero 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silas Gnaka 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jocelyn Janneh, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
A fresh start for Christian Mawissa under the new man
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Christian Mawissa has taken the hint, and SC Bastia are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Johny Placide knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Johny Placide trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
28 starts now, an average of 6.86, and the team sheet at US Boulogne has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Dominique Guidi: 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.” SC Bastia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Silas Gnaka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted SC Bastia
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SC Bastia can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Montpellier HSC came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for SC Bastia
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Pau FC kept coming because nothing stopped them, and SC Bastia will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ayman Aiki, 21, steals the show — 8.39
Marked 8.39 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market31 Aug 2026
Jérémy Sebas 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 SC Bastia can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
Charleroi come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and SC Bastia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for SC Bastia
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around SC Bastia are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mehdi Merghem 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Silas Gnaka 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.