Marked for Redwan Bourlès
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Dec 2027
138 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sochaux lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Sochaux
Sebastian Szymański 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
A row about effort at Sochaux
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Compagnon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Dec 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.
Market13 Dec 2027
The name of Fabian Nürnberger keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sochaux say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Kevin O'Toole 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.
The dugout13 Dec 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Sochaux and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Home comforts ahead for Sochaux
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Boardroom
The Sochaux academy earns its keep
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Nürnberger 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 dugout15 Nov 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.
The dugout15 Nov 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.
Squad15 Nov 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 Sochaux know it.
Market15 Nov 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Market15 Nov 2027
The name of Fabian Nürnberger keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sochaux say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Ben Traoré 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Sochaux has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Oussama Lyakoubi damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Compagnon 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Sochaux
Kevin O'Toole and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samy Baghdadi, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Gaoussou Fofana, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
Wages eat 99% of everything Sochaux earn
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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Mehdi Jeannin 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sochaux, another week without a signature from Mehdi Jeannin.
Market11 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sochaux know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.