David Bates 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.
Jonny Howson 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Albin Ekdal, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Lois Openda is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
5 goals in 20 games at Valenciennes — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mouscron updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
26 points in position 12: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given it.
34 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Bates was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jonny Howson 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.
“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.
42 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.
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
David Bates 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.
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.
10 goals in 27 games at Cardiff City — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mouscron updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lois Openda, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Lois Openda is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 Falke Vandecaetsbeek has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonny Howson 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
105 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.
6 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.
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.
Jonny Howson 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothy 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.
“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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Hans Carrasco to a room that had heard them before.
8 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 clock did what US Creteil would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khalis Merah 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.
Bryan Passi 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolás Martínez and Valenciennes agree another 1 years.
8 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Eden Witsel takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eden Witsel provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valenciennes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Valenciennes have done the hard part with Monaco, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Sofian Bahloul 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khalis Merah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Valenciennes are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
0‑1 to US Creteil, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Daou Diomandé 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.
Bryan Passi 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.
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Henri Perrin left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valenciennes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
28 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bryan Van Den Bogaert and Mouscron agree another 1 years.
Andréa Librici and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tsubasa Nishi 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Lois Openda's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
5 goals in 10 games at Cardiff City — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mouscron updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Andréa Librici arrives at Mouscron with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Khalis Merah 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Amourricho van Axel Dongen. 1‑0 against Red Star, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Valenciennes.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daou Diomandé 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Henri Perrin kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Valenciennes have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
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.
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Lois Carrasco, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thorgan Tielemans 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.
Dino Arslanagić arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Lois Openda is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“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 Jerson Cabral.
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.
“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 Valenciennes, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valenciennes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Khalis Merah 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Valenciennes told Eden Witsel something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valenciennes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Alain Ipiélé a promise
Romain Thomas 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.
He is 22 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jean Louchet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Toulouse FC go through and Valenciennes go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
7 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.
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Valenciennes can tell you which week it ends in.
Rémy Boissier 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.
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Khalis Merah 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valenciennes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Valenciennes asked and RC Strasbourg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valenciennes can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Valenciennes close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Daou Diomandé 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valenciennes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valenciennes can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $210.0K — a club that wants Lucas Leaudais enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to LOSC Lille this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Valenciennes offered $210.0K; FC Lorient 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.
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Valenciennes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daou Diomandé 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Valenciennes are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Khalis Merah is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Valenciennes would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Spezia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Antoine Lejoly has, at Mouscron, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mousa Doku was one of the reasons people came, and $43.9M does not replace that by itself.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Valenciennes will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Lyonnais have kept their man, and Valenciennes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Valenciennes are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Still no offer on the table, and Alain Ipiélé’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.