The Lokeren Chronicle
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Nobody could get near Laurent Boyata
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Aug 2027
Thomas Mignolet asks to leave Lokeren
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Lokeren
Michaël Heylen 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Zinho Chadli 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.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
The crowd has taken to Leozao
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Lokeren count the cost of losing Leander Vertonghen
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market2 Aug 2027
Charles Castagne told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Charles Castagne has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Lokeren.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Falke Vandecaetsbeek gets it from the manager
“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.
Market2 Aug 2027
The Laurent Boyata talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lokeren know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
- Match No goals between Lokeren and Anderlecht
- The terraces The stands have heard the Eden Meunier talk too
- Player ratings The referee tires of Thorgan Batshuayi