Marked for Hans Hateboer
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Benito Yllaconza out for 83 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Clermont Foot will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Eliezer Mayenda
16 goals and a season average of 7.40 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Hans Hateboer 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Luís Hemir 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 terraces6 Dec 2027
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 dugout6 Dec 2027
Luís Hemir 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
Three points for Clermont Foot, 1‑0 the final word against AS Nancy in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Eliezer Mayenda was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Roger Roy could afford to be generous.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad15 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Nov 2027
The match ball belongs to Eliezer Mayenda, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match13 Nov 2027
Nobody wants to play Clermont Foot right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
14 goals and a season average of 7.36. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Eliezer Mayenda was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.97. 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.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
The game went through Hans Hateboer — 7.75
Marked 7.75 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match13 Nov 2027
Three points for Clermont Foot, 3‑1 the final word against Dijon in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luís Hemir 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 terraces15 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibrahim Coulibaly has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad8 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Benito Yllaconza out for 113 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Clermont Foot will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match6 Nov 2027
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Age has not caught Hans Hateboer yet — 7.83
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luís Hemir 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Eliezer Mayenda’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Clermont Foot.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
He is 23 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Eliezer Mayenda
11 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match6 Nov 2027
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Oct 2027
137 days out for Benito Yllaconza after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Clermont Foot will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Hans Hateboer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Luís Hemir 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.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match16 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexandre Duville-Parsemain. 1‑0 against Sochaux, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 147 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.42, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Claudivan: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Allan Ackra has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match9 Oct 2027
A 2‑0 win over US Creteil, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cheick Oumar Konaté was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Ousmane Diop 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.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
“I watch every Clermont Foot game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Red Star runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Eliezer Mayenda: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Aug 2027
The offer from FC Metz for Adrien Hunou was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market30 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Red Star waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Clermont Foot is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Clermont Foot is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Aug 2027
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad30 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Clermont Foot this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Luís Hemir scored one and made one — 7.79
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.79, and 2 involvements.
Match28 Aug 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Clermont Foot did not have in the autumn.
Squad30 Aug 2027
At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Clermont Foot can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kenji-Van Boto and Clermont Foot agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Pelmard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Jul 2027
Maxence Soulet has left for Bourg-Peronnas in a $110.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Clermont Foot asked and Monaco said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Hans Hateboer 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“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 Clermont Foot know it.
The dugout12 Jul 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
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 Mohammed Guindo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stade Rennais have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Jules Simon out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stade Rennais will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Jun 2027
Alidu Seidu hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stade Rennais can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Théo Hernández 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Djaoui Cissé is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Market28 Jun 2027
FC Lorient paid $430.0K and Stade Rennais took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
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.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
42 appearances at Racing Santander and the goals keep coming. Stade Rennais are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Abdellah Baallal has gone, the accounts have $3.0M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market21 Jun 2027
Le Havre AC paid $3.0M and Clermont Foot took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Yoann Salmier for 18 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Clermont Foot will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Clermont Foot had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Monaco, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ousmane Diop is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Clermont Foot training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matija Malekinušić 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Allan Ackra told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Allan Ackra has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Clermont Foot.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
Paradou come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Clermont Foot did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mathys Tourraine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andy Pelmard and Clermont Foot agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Clermont Foot asked and OGC Nice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout14 Jun 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan move for Hans Hateboer is in the works
Clermont Foot have made the call to Stade Rennais. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Clermont Foot has been clear about where Yuliwes Bellache stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benito Yllaconza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Stade Rennais asked and Udinese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market14 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stade Rennais have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Jules Simon breaks a bone — 33 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$6.1M was the most the club would pay and RC Strasbourg were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Stade Rennais heard it as anything else.
Market14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Coutadeur will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stade Rennais the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Rennais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Stade Rennais will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stade Rennais have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Jules Simon breaks a bone — 41 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The offer went to RC Strasbourg 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Théo Hernández 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 Jun 2027
Yanis Aube is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 May 2027
“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 Stade Rennais, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stade Rennais is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kelvin Dongopandji has agreed terms with Clermont Foot for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad31 May 2027
Théo Hernández 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.
Squad31 May 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Loan watch31 May 2027
41 appearances away from home and 14 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad31 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Szymański was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
Boulaye Dia 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 Stade Rennais, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stade Rennais can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stade Rennais is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Szymański 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Hans Hateboer 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Esteban Lepaul, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
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.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Georginio Rutter’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout17 May 2027
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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Alexis Mirbach knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexis Mirbach trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 May 2027
“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 Stade Rennais, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 May 2027
Hans Hateboer has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stade Rennais they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 May 2027
Théo Hernández 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.
Loan watch3 May 2027
37 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad3 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Chebbi and Stade Rennais agree another 5 years.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jérôme Aubry, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 May 2027
When it matters, Alidu Seidu plays
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.
Squad3 May 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Squad3 May 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Stade Rennais will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2027
0‑3 to Olympique Lyonnais, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
Market5 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stade Rennais is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stade Rennais may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Théo Hernández 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Mehdi Husson is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Szymański 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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Arnaud Nordin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stade Rennais have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Hans Hateboer, 33, rolls back the years — 8.13
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad29 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Rennais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Mar 2027
Three points for Stade Rennais, 1‑0 the final word against Paris FC in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout29 Mar 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Musa Al-Tamari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
32 appearances away from home and 10 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Ludovic Blas 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 Ludovic Blas is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
There were 11 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
0‑6 to Angers SCO, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market15 Mar 2027
Alidu Seidu hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stade Rennais can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Théo Hernández 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Stade Rennais and Angers SCO in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Szymański 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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 Stade Rennais know it.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout15 Mar 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 0‑6 defeat, delivered by Marc Aubert to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Mar 2027
“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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stade Rennais is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stade Rennais may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match6 Mar 2027
8 matches without a win, and then this, against Toulouse FC. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Théo Hernández commits to Stade Rennais for another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Théo Hernández 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Boulaye Dia. 2‑1 against Toulouse FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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 Stade Rennais know it.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Paris FC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stade Rennais is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stade Rennais is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match6 Feb 2027
5 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Stade Rennais can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valentin Rongier and Stade Rennais agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Théo Hernández 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market1 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stade Rennais have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stade Rennais can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Feb 2027
Mahdi Camara has left for RC Lens in a $15.7M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cagliari have kept their man, and Stade Rennais go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Hans Hateboer: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stade Rennais have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
$5.1M was the most the club would pay and AJ Auxerre were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
$460.0K settles it between the clubs for Patrik Carlgren
FC Nantes have accepted the money. What Stade Rennais do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 47. 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑7 by Paris Saint-Germain, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match20 Jan 2027
A 0‑0 win over LOSC Lille, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Stade Rennais, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stade Rennais have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer from Monaco for Mahdi Camara was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Stade Rennais have gone to AJ Auxerre with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match16 Jan 2027
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Luís Hemir decided nobody was going anywhere. Sochaux had no time left to answer.
Market18 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Clermont Foot have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Yad Lochereau: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Clermont Foot have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The deal with Stade Rennais is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mathys Tourraine 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luís Hemir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
He is 23 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Sochaux made Clermont Foot work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
Brice Samba has left for Monaco in a $7.7M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer from Paradou for Jérôme Aubry was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Théo Hernández 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The Stade Rennais dressing room has split into 6 groups
Squads form friendships and that is healthy; this is not that. 6 separate groups, 2 players belonging to none of them, and a set of tables at lunch that have stopped rearranging themselves. It very rarely fixes itself.
Match16 Jan 2027
RC Strasbourg left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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 0‑2 Marc Aubert left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market18 Jan 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ludovic Blas may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Stade Rennais asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valenciennes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stade Rennais is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market11 Jan 2027
Stade Rennais spend $4.8M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.8M has been paid because Arthur Piedfort is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer from Cambuur for Hans Hateboer was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Adrien Thomasson, 33, rolls back the years — 7.96
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.96 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Romarinho keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stade Rennais may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Coutadeur will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stade Rennais the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Théo Hernández 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Florian Truffert is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Théo Hernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tyler Fredricson arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tyler Fredricson has, at Stade Rennais, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Szymański 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Stade Rennais told Georginio Rutter something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.70 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Stade Rennais had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Hans Hateboer
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Marc Aubert: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over Stade Brestois, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Théo Hernández 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Djaoui Cissé has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match21 Nov 2026
0‑1 to RC Lens, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Musa Al-Tamari at his very best
Marked 8.28. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Stade Rennais.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Issa Soumaré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Esteban Lepaul, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 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 Marc Aubert left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ludovic Blas breaks a bone — 19 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Théo Hernández 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Angers SCO, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Stade Rennais told Théo Hernández something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Klebinho signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Klebinho commits to Stade Rennais for another 4 years.
Squad16 Nov 2026
International break empties Stade Rennais
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jérôme Aubry, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Ludovic Blas out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stade Rennais will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Théo Hernández 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Three points for Stade Rennais, 1‑0 the final word against FC Metz in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mahdi Camara 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Georginio Rutter 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hans Hateboer, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Marc Aubert could afford to be generous.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.