Marked for Mohamed Kaba
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Jan 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The name of Steeven Assengue has come up in conversations Francs Borains were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Francs Borains training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Fosso 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Francs Borains asked and RAAL La Louviere said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Elias Spago in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Francs Borains this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces10 Jan 2028
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match8 Jan 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Hicham Mahou’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Francs Borains.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Jordan Bustin
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
A one-man rearguard from Jordi Belin
There were 6 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at RFC Liege
Tijmen Wildeboer 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Appearance number 200 for Théo Pierrot
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Ismail Azzaoui was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match11 Dec 2027
No time for Jong Genk to settle
The goal that put Jong Genk ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when RFC Liege equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at RFC Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pierre-Yves Ngawa 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.
Loan watch13 Dec 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at RFC Liege, and 7 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout13 Dec 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Jong Genk leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
Reda Rabeï in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RFC Liege this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
“I did not go to Francs Borains to sit and watch. I want to come back to RFC Liege and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ryan Bakayoko, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Pierre-Yves Ngawa 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and RFC Liege will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Lommel in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at RFC Liege would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Marco Ngaya gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marco Ngaya is on it.
Market15 Nov 2027
RFC Liege have made Pierre-Yves Ngawa available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Kenta Nemoto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at RFC Liege
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Diliberto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for RFC Liege is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Tijmen Wildeboer ran the middle of the pitch — 6.76
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.76, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at RFC Liege, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Romelu Lukaku after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The plan did not have a place for Reda Rabeï
Nobody at RFC Liege is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Francs Borains have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Maxime Bastian was one of the reasons people came, and $2.7M does not replace that by itself.
Market26 Jul 2027
Maxime Bastian has left for Sint-Truiden in a $2.7M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
No thanks: Jarno De Smet rejects the move
Francs Borains had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lierse, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Francs Borains offered $1.1M; Westerlo said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Francs Borains
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market26 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Axel Mignolet has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market26 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Laurent Lukaku has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dorian Dessoleil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.