Marked for Alexandre André
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Oct 2035
“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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Mike Trésor 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Words at US Boulogne training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Anosov 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.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
Nobody could get near Nevio Zotz
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match27 Oct 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. US Boulogne will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
Mike Trésor 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Oct 2035
US Boulogne are in real trouble now
Position 17, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
“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.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Mike Trésor 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.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julian Quintero, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Oct 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Grant and US Boulogne agree another 4 years.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fathy El Wensh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Oct 2035
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 Sep 2035
“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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Mike Trésor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2035
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and US Boulogne know it.
Squad10 Sep 2035
US Boulogne are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
Mike Trésor 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 US Boulogne, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
The manager makes an example of Timothy Januzaj
“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.
Looking ahead10 Sep 2035
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against ESTAC Troyes in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.