Marked for Mathis Raimbault
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Sion
Ilyas Chouaref 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ryan Kessler, and the manager let it.
Market26 Feb 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mathis Raimbault may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Mar 2028
Every point is an argument now for Sion
Position 8 and 16 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Sion
Kevin Mbabu 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sion know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Sion
Kevin Mbabu 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
61 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bianief Peters and Sion agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market7 Feb 2028
He is 18, and nobody at Sion signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Franck Surdez 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 Sion, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market7 Feb 2028
Experience through the door at Sion
Mauricio Alaniz arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.