Djelan Morana 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Bourg-Peronnas will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haik Moussakhanian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bourg-Peronnas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bourg-Peronnas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-Baptiste Bosey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bourg-Peronnas has been clear about where Omar Zouggary stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bourg-Peronnas, another week without a signature from Juan Alberto Mosquera.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bourg-Peronnas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Roman Laspalles commits to Bourg-Peronnas for another 2 years.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Baptiste Bosey 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout6 May 2030
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 Richard Da Silva to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Max Maréchal 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 dugout29 Apr 2030
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 Richard Da Silva to a room that had heard them before.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Destin Banzouzi signs something — a contract at Bourg-Peronnas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Bourg-Peronnas that is a harder question to answer.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Max Maréchal 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.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Richard Da Silva on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Baptiste Bosey 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Bourg-Peronnas and FC Rouen in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Marked 8.06 — 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 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 dugout8 Apr 2030
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 2‑5 Richard Da Silva left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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 Bourg-Peronnas know it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bourg-Peronnas, another week without a signature from Dominique Guidi.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Yassine Badaoui’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Bourg-Peronnas needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Dominique Guidi is 34, with 260 appearances behind him, and Bourg-Peronnas will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Zouggary was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Timéo Velter will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bourg-Peronnas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
Destin Banzouzi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to AS Nancy, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Max Maréchal 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.
Marked 6.61 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
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 1‑3 Richard Da Silva left the room before anybody could ask which.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Jacques Mbiandjeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Max Maréchal 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Bourg-Peronnas is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
7.97, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Bourg-Peronnas had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Omar Zouggary 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Timéo Velter is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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 Jean-Baptiste Bosey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“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 dugout25 Feb 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Richard Da Silva chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against FC Fleury 91? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Quentin Lacour’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Bourg-Peronnas needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Adel Lembezat
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Timéo Velter will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bourg-Peronnas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 39 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bourg-Peronnas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haik Moussakhanian 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: AS Nancy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Timéo Velter. The answer from Bourg-Peronnas has not changed — yet.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bourg-Peronnas, another week without a signature from Dominique Guidi.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jean-Baptiste Bosey did not need any: 8.26, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have shaken hands with Red Star; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Bourg-Peronnas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Montpellier HSC, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Bourg-Peronnas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AS Saint-Etienne, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Bourg-Peronnas offered $350.0K; Monaco 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.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Le Havre AC 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is saying, and nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is enjoying the guessing.
$900.0K was the most the club would pay and USL Dunkerque 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.
$350.0K on the table at Monaco. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to USL Dunkerque 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FC Fleury 91 is saying, and nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is enjoying the guessing.
The deal with RC Lens 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Timéo Velter has come up in conversations Bourg-Peronnas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Bourg-Peronnas will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Bourg-Peronnas had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Monaco keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Baptiste Bosey 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 mood at Bourg-Peronnas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jean-Baptiste Bosey did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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 finished 2‑0, and it was Andy Pembélé’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Bourg-Peronnas.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Destin Banzouzi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.65. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 3, 28 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jean-Baptiste Bosey did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Max Maréchal 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bourg-Peronnas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.86, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against EA Guingamp? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Bourg-Peronnas have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
3 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.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haik Moussakhanian 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.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas know it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Omar Zouggary 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.
Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
In brief
BoardroomThe Bourg-Peronnas production line keeps running
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 144 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Destin Banzouzi provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bourg-Peronnas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Richard Da Silva could afford to be generous.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Paris Saint-Germain go through and Bourg-Peronnas go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
7.69, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
At 21 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 159 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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 goal that put FC Villefranche ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Bourg-Peronnas equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Marked 6.73 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Omar Zouggary 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.
Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 166 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Up for the corner, and Max Maréchal delivers — 7.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Max Maréchal scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Max Maréchal 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 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Richard Da Silva on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 173 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Jacques Mbiandjeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Max Maréchal 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bourg-Peronnas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Maréchal signs something — a contract at Bourg-Peronnas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bourg-Peronnas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
A 1‑0 win over Paris 13 Atletico, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Jacques Mbiandjeu now has 25 of them across 101 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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 Max Maréchal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Bourg-Peronnas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Jacques Mbiandjeu: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Max Maréchal 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Up for the corner, and Max Maréchal delivers — 7.33
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Max Maréchal scored, was marked 7.33, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Chances created: 12. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Omar Zouggary 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Bourg-Peronnas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Paris Saint-Germain keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haik Moussakhanian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Bourg-Peronnas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bourg-Peronnas, another week without a signature from Dominique Guidi.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $187.0K of what Bourg-Peronnas paid for Lenny Piètre is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Landry Malonda is living that version at Bourg-Peronnas, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Bourg-Peronnas close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 8 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.
$1.0M was the most the club would pay and Olympique de Marseille 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.
The deal with Paris Saint-Germain 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.
Bourg-Peronnas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at RC Strasbourg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Destin Banzouzi provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
$1.0M was the most the club would pay and Montpellier HSC 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bourg-Peronnas have done the hard part with Le Havre AC, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bourg-Peronnas asked and FC Fleury 91 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A 2‑1 win over Clermont Foot, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
Player ratingsBoth jobs done by Adel Lembezat — 7.09
SquadWords at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bourg-Peronnas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bourg-Peronnas offered $1.1M; 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.
Bourg-Peronnas asked and FC Metz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Jacques Mbiandjeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
6 academy players handed senior numbers at Bourg-Peronnas
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jean-Baptiste Perrot is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The mood at Bourg-Peronnas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Bourg-Peronnas is running low.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bourg-Peronnas have gone to Montpellier HSC 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bourg-Peronnas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The phone has started ringing about Enea Florio again, and this time the name on the line is Ourense CF. Bourg-Peronnas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Bourg-Peronnas asked and Olympique de Marseille 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Richard Da Silva has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The clubs have shaken hands with FC Lorient; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Bourg-Peronnas offered $1.1M; Olympique de Marseille 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is saying, and nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is enjoying the guessing.
Jacques Mbiandjeu 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 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Lenny Piètre 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
FC Versailles have accepted the money. What Bourg-Peronnas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Everything agreed with LOSC Lille, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FC Nantes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Bourg-Peronnas have gone to Stade Rennais 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rayan Slimani 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Monaco is saying, and nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is enjoying the guessing.
Quentin Lacour 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 Quentin Lacour, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Rayan Slimani 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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Bourg-Peronnas could ask drops and the wages Francis Kembolo can ask rise.
The mood at Bourg-Peronnas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
$1.3M was the most the club would pay and FC Lorient 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bourg-Peronnas have done the hard part with Monaco, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Angers SCO is saying, and nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is enjoying the guessing.
$280.0K on the table at Le Havre AC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have shaken hands with Montpellier HSC; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Rayan Slimani 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bourg-Peronnas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Richard Da Silva has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with FC Lorient, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Bourg-Peronnas asked and Sochaux said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Paris 13 Atletico for Lenny Piètre 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.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Metz have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lenny Piètre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Max Maréchal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Valenciennes is saying, and nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monaco have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bourg-Peronnas and Monaco have settled on $350.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FC Metz keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Bourg-Peronnas have gone to FC Versailles 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.
Quentin Lacour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathieu Deplagne 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bourg-Peronnas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
The deal with Monaco 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.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lenny Piètre 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rayan Slimani 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bourg-Peronnas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Quentin Lacour 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.
“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.
Squad21 May 2029
Rayan Slimani 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.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Max Maréchal and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 4 years.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Lenny Piètre 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 Bourg-Peronnas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Sylla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bourg-Peronnas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
FC Fleury 91 left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 May 2029
Rayan Slimani 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.
11 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bourg-Peronnas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Rayan Slimani 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Richard Da Silva chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bourg-Peronnas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bourg-Peronnas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
In brief
SquadWords at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Quentin Lacour 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: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Rayan Slimani 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.
9 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Richard Da Silva has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lenny Piètre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Destin Banzouzi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Maël Zogba was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Rayanne Fabre has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Bourg-Peronnas could ask drops and the wages Mohamed Sylla can ask rise.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bourg-Peronnas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Quentin Lacour 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 Rayan Slimani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Bourg-Peronnas can tell you which week it ends in.
Quentin Lacour 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.
0‑2 to Sochaux, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Rayan Slimani 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mathieu Deplagne and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 1 years.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bourg-Peronnas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Bourg-Peronnas can tell you which week it ends in.
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Lenny Piètre 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 Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rayan Slimani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
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 Richard Da Silva to a room that had heard them before.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bourg-Peronnas, another week without a signature from Beimarse Tankiev.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Bourg-Peronnas is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lenny Piètre will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bourg-Peronnas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rayan Slimani 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bourg-Peronnas has been clear about where Francis Kembolo stands, which is more than many ever get.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Andy Pembélé
Montpellier HSC wanted more than $970.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lenny Piètre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Bourg-Peronnas had all but put away. SC Aubagne Air Bel will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Sylla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bourg-Peronnas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Bourg-Peronnas ran out of time with Toulouse FC. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Lorient have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rayan Slimani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Destin Banzouzi’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have shaken hands with Toulouse FC; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer went to RC Lens 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dominique Guidi and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 2 years.
Bourg-Peronnas asked and Olympique Lyonnais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Bourg-Peronnas will try again when the window opens; Monaco may not be selling by then.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lenny Piètre will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bourg-Peronnas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$970.0K on the table at Montpellier HSC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bourg-Peronnas have done the hard part with LOSC Lille, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Quentin Lacour 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Bourg-Peronnas will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Bourg-Peronnas offered $190.0K; Stade Rennais 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.
$1.1M on the table at Olympique de Marseille. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Bourg-Peronnas offered $890.0K; Montpellier HSC 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.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Everybody at Bourg-Peronnas saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lenny Piètre 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mathieu Deplagne and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 1 years.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bourg-Peronnas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bourg-Peronnas and Le Havre AC have settled on $220.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer went to Montpellier HSC 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.
Bourg-Peronnas offered $1.1M; Olympique de Marseille 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.
Bourg-Peronnas 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.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bourg-Peronnas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Rodez AF have accepted the money. What Bourg-Peronnas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Olympique de Marseille 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.
Bourg-Peronnas have gone to Paris Saint-Germain 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris FC have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Lenny Piètre 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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bourg-Peronnas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces1 Jan 2029
The mood at Bourg-Peronnas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
FC Fleury 91 will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Bourg-Peronnas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
A brace, and Rayan Slimani takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rayan Slimani provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Timéo Velter, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.41
A mark of 8.41 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Quentin Lacour 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bourg-Peronnas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 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.
Quentin Lacour 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.
A 2‑0 win over Paris 13 Atletico, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Andy Pembélé was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rayan Slimani 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.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bourg-Peronnas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bourg-Peronnas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bourg-Peronnas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Omar Zouggary. 1‑0 against FC Rouen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 7.95. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Adel Lembezat'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.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bourg-Peronnas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bourg-Peronnas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Quentin Lacour 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Omar Zouggary 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bourg-Peronnas has been clear about where Lenny Piètre stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
Boardroom85% of the income goes out in wages at Bourg-Peronnas
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bourg-Peronnas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rayan Slimani 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 dugout27 Nov 2028
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 Richard Da Silva to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rayan Slimani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bourg-Peronnas told Beimarse Tankiev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
AS Nancy next, and one man in the Bourg-Peronnas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Position 15, 8 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.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Up for the corner, and Mohamed Sylla delivers — 7.44
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mohamed Sylla scored, was marked 7.44, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Zouggary 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed Sylla trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jacques Mbiandjeu and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 4 years.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Rayan Slimani 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.
“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; Bourg-Peronnas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Richard Da Silva chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Bourg-Peronnas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rayan Slimani 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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Richard Da Silva was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Bourg-Peronnas dressing room was either.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.79 on the card, and the Bourg-Peronnas support went home talking about one name.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Zouggary 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
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.” Richard Da Silva kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Something was said to Lenny Piètre and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, 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 Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Lenny Piètre 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 Bourg-Peronnas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Adel Lembezat’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Bourg-Peronnas needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Bourg-Peronnas will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Bourg-Peronnas would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bourg-Peronnas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Quentin Lacour 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.
SC Aubagne Air Bel left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francis Kembolo 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Richard Da Silva after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francis Kembolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alexandre Fernandes has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bourg-Peronnas, another week without a signature from Dominique Guidi.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Richard Da Silva after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lenny Piètre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Lenny Piètre to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against SM Caen, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Richard Da Silva was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Bourg-Peronnas dressing room was either.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lenny Piètre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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 1‑2 Richard Da Silva left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bourg-Peronnas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Stade Lavallois, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Bourg-Peronnas ran out of time with Rodez AF. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Bourg-Peronnas asked and Paris FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rayan Slimani 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ernest Dzięcioł and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Stade Lavallois have accepted the money. What Bourg-Peronnas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$2.8M was the most the club would pay and Monaco 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Bourg-Peronnas close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 10 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.
Everything agreed with Le Havre AC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Bourg-Peronnas 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.
Quentin Lacour 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
In brief
SquadWords at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bourg-Peronnas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Rodez AF; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bourg-Peronnas have done the hard part with FC Versailles, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Bourg-Peronnas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Paris Saint-Germain, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Day 12 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Richard Da Silva recited it perfectly.
Bourg-Peronnas offered $58.0K; FC Versailles 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Bourg-Peronnas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at RC Lens, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$310.0K on the table at Olympique Lyonnais. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Quentin Lacour 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 offer went to FC Versailles 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.
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.
Bourg-Peronnas asked and Paris FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lenny Piètre 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Bourg-Peronnas can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Bourg-Peronnas and Le Havre AC have settled on $210.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
$2.6M was the most the club would pay and Monaco 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bourg-Peronnas have done the hard part with LB Chateauroux, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Bourg-Peronnas 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rayan Slimani and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Lenny Piètre 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Bourg-Peronnas is running low.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with FC Lorient 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas 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.
“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.
The terraces24 Jul 2028
Supporters turn on the $450.0K sale of Elhadj Keita
He is going to USL Dunkerque, the club has $450.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
$500.0K on the table at FC Lorient. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
USL Dunkerque pay $450.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Lyonnais have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Lenny Piètre 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.
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 Mohamed Sylla is on it.
“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 Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Olympique Lyonnais 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.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris FC have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Elhadj Keita 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.
Bourg-Peronnas have made the call to Stade Brestois. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bourg-Peronnas have made the call to Monaco. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Quentin Lacour 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Lens have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elhadj Keita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bourg-Peronnas have made the call to FC Lorient. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bourg-Peronnas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Bourg-Peronnas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Bourg-Peronnas can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The deal with Clermont Foot 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lenny Piètre 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.
LOSC Lille have accepted the money. What Bourg-Peronnas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Lyonnais have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elhadj Keita 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.
Montpellier HSC have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bourg-Peronnas told Enea Florio something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.