From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market23 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bourg-Peronnas have done the hard part with AJ Auxerre, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Cheikh Koïté is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Rayan Souici 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Andy Pembélé has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Quentin Lacour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Bourg-Peronnas asked and FC Nantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bourg-Peronnas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market16 Aug 2027
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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The deal with AS Nancy 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with AJ Auxerre; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market16 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Bourg-Peronnas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Boumaaoui is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Rayan Souici and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces9 Aug 2027
Supporters organise against the Bourg-Peronnas board
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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bourg-Peronnas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Andy Pembélé beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market9 Aug 2027
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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Stade Rennais is saying, and nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is enjoying the guessing.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rayan Souici and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: AC Ajaccio have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Elhadj Keita. The answer from Bourg-Peronnas has not changed — yet.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Assane Dioussé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
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.
Market2 Aug 2027
US Creteil come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Bourg-Peronnas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Bourg-Peronnas and Paris Saint-Germain have settled on $600.0K. 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Rayan Souici makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bourg-Peronnas have done the hard part with Stade Rennais, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympique Lyonnais keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rayan Souici commits to Bourg-Peronnas for another 4 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bourg-Peronnas can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Bourg-Peronnas and AJ Auxerre have settled on $250.0K. 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mamadou Magassouba 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead26 Jul 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nathan Vitré’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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
Pressure builds in the Bourg-Peronnas boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad19 Jul 2027
20 days out for Roman Laspalles after a fracture
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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The deal with Chamois Niortais 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Quentin Lacour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Bourg-Peronnas asked and Clermont Foot said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mamadou Magassouba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 Jul 2027
A stepping stone, not a home, for Jean-David Uras
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Bourg-Peronnas were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
LOSC Lille 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Bourg-Peronnas are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jul 2027
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Anger at Bourg-Peronnas spills outside the ground
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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
28 days out for Roman Laspalles after a fracture
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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Paris FC 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The paperwork begins on Ilane Touré
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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The paperwork is done: Jean-David Uras joins from AC Ajaccio in a deal worth $240.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Bourg-Peronnas spend $3.0M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.0M for Assane Dioussé, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Roman Laspalles out for 36 days
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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The deal with AC Ajaccio 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Bourg-Peronnas asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Mamadou Magassouba 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rayanne Fabre and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 3 years.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jun 2027
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.
Match28 Jun 2027
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Olympique de Marseille, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad28 Jun 2027
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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Benjamin Bešić has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
LOSC Lille 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Roman Laspalles out for 52 days
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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$520.0K settles it between the clubs for Théo Mouyemé
Paris Saint-Germain 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The paperwork begins on Fabio Baldé
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bourg-Peronnas have done the hard part with RC Strasbourg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Sidi Cissé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Anger at Bourg-Peronnas spills outside the ground
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Roman Laspalles out for 59 days
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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with AC Ajaccio; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The paperwork begins on Bouna Sarr
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bourg-Peronnas have done the hard part with FC Metz, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market14 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Angers SCO keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sidi Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Roman Laspalles out for 66 days
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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Sébastien Jean has until the next board meeting
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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market7 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Angers SCO, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Benjamin Bešić commits to Bourg-Peronnas for another 3 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Mathéo Bodmer
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match31 May 2027
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad31 May 2027
Sidi Cissé and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathéo Bodmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout31 May 2027
Mohamed Sylla asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Bourg-Peronnas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad24 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 May 2027
Quentin Lacour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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 dugout24 May 2027
Mamadou Magassouba is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout24 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Benjamin Bešić has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 May 2027
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.
Squad17 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
A fracture rules Roman Laspalles out for 97 days
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.
Squad10 May 2027
Sidi Cissé 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathéo Bodmer 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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Mathéo Bodmer
“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.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“I watch every Bourg-Peronnas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chamois Niortais runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout10 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Benjamin Bešić has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match3 May 2027
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom3 May 2027
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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Sidi Cissé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathéo Bodmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mamadou Magassouba'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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Benjamin Bešić asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the Bourg-Peronnas board
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Quentin Lacour
19 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Mathéo Bodmer
“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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I watch every Bourg-Peronnas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chamois Niortais runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Quentin Lacour
36 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Apr 2027
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Lenny Montfort: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Sidi Cissé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
An unwelcome headline for Rayan Souici
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2027
43 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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Sidi Cissé in a row with a teammate
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
Quentin Lacour damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Quentin Lacour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
Quentin Lacour damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Sidi Cissé 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 Mar 2027
Mamadou Magassouba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamin Bešić, and the manager let it.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I watch every Bourg-Peronnas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chamois Niortais runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Quentin Lacour
65 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.
Match8 Mar 2027
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Sébastien Jean has until the next board meeting
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Quentin Lacour commits to Bourg-Peronnas for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Sidi Cissé 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathéo Bodmer 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Mar 2027
Quentin Lacour damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Bourg-Peronnas boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Mohamed Sylla: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bourg-Peronnas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bourg-Peronnas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
Mamadou Magassouba is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
Quentin Lacour damages knee ligaments — 79 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
Supporters organise against the Bourg-Peronnas board
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Sidi Cissé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Do Marcolino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Mohamed Sylla asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Quentin Lacour
86 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Sidi Cissé 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 Feb 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathéo Bodmer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Benjamin Bešić
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Lenny Montfort has written the date down.
Market15 Feb 2027
Bourg-Peronnas spent the window trying to move Lenny Montfort on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2027
Quentin Lacour damages knee ligaments — 94 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
Match8 Feb 2027
Position 12, 13 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Sidi Cissé falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Lenny Montfort knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lenny Montfort trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market8 Feb 2027
The window shut and Essam Medjebeur is still in the building
Bourg-Peronnas spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Quentin Lacour
102 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Bourg-Peronnas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Bourg-Peronnas close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Sidi Cissé in a row with a teammate
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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Elhadj Keita has come up in conversations Bourg-Peronnas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed Sylla and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Sylla 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to LOSC Lille: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
109 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.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Bourg-Peronnas board
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Sidi Cissé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathéo Bodmer 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
Quentin Lacour damages knee ligaments — 116 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 116 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sidi Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Tours left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamin Bešić, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sébastien Jean after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan move for Noah Nadje is in the works
Bourg-Peronnas have made the call to Angers SCO. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
21 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and US Creteil were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Match11 Jan 2027
Position 12, 13 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. US Creteil will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Paris FC 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Andy Pembélé beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Sidi Cissé 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Bourg-Peronnas asked and Stade Brestois said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Sébastien Jean has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Sidi Cissé in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathéo Bodmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead4 Jan 2027
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Bourg-Peronnas know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Paris Saint-Germain: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to LOSC Lille: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Maxima Goffi is in the works
Bourg-Peronnas have made the call to LOSC Lille. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
21 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Anger at Bourg-Peronnas spills outside the ground
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
5 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Quentin Lacour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 95% of everything Bourg-Peronnas earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mamadou Magassouba will call it something else in private.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.” Sébastien Jean chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Bourg-Peronnas's wait for a win
20 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bourg-Peronnas has to find a result from somewhere.
Match19 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Sidi Cissé 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Red Star left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Sébastien Jean left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Dijon 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
19 matches without a win for Bourg-Peronnas
The run now stands at 19, and the questions being asked around Bourg-Peronnas are no longer polite ones.
Match14 Dec 2026
Position 13, 9 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Sidi Cissé 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathéo Bodmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Dec 2026
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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jérôme Muller is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jacques Perrot has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamin Bešić, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
18 matches without a win for Bourg-Peronnas
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Bourg-Peronnas are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sidi Cissé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Dec 2026
Bourg-Peronnas are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match5 Dec 2026
0‑2 to Sochaux, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Teddy Boulhendi, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yassine Abraou and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
17 matches without a win for Bourg-Peronnas
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Bourg-Peronnas are no longer polite ones.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Stade Lavallois, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
Supporters organise against the Bourg-Peronnas board
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Sidi Cissé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Andy Pembélé
“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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Bourg-Peronnas earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Mathéo Bodmer is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Bourg-Peronnas's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bourg-Peronnas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sidi Cissé 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mathéo Bodmer 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Elysée Logbo scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to AC Ajaccio, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad23 Nov 2026
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Elysée Logbo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Andy Pembélé knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andy Pembélé trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Something was said to Rayan Souici and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
15 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.
Match16 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Bourg-Peronnas
Position 13 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Quentin Lacour
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 3‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Bourg-Peronnas's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bourg-Peronnas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sidi Cissé in a row with a teammate
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Do Marcolino, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maher Bouyadel 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.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
Bourg-Peronnas take on the side everybody is chasing
Chamois Niortais arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Match7 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Nimes defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
Chamois Niortais 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
13 matches without a win for Bourg-Peronnas
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Bourg-Peronnas are no longer polite ones.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Bourg-Peronnas spills outside the ground
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Quentin Lacour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mathéo Bodmer falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Sidi Cissé did the work nobody counts — 7.24
11 combined actions and 7.24. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match2 Nov 2026
8 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Bourg-Peronnas earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Bourg-Peronnas's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bourg-Peronnas has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Mamadou Magassouba delivers — 7.64
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mamadou Magassouba scored, was marked 7.64, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Andy Pembélé beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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 terraces26 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.65 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match24 Oct 2026
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Francis Kembolo
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
11 matches without a win for Bourg-Peronnas
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Bourg-Peronnas are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Oct 2026
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Sidi Cissé 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Lenny Montfort has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad19 Oct 2026
100 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Benjamin Bešić
“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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Bourg-Peronnas
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Bourg-Peronnas are no longer polite ones.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andy Pembélé and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jacques Mbiandjeu is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Sidi Cissé in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mathéo Bodmer 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yann Fontaine has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Philippe François has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Quentin Lacour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sidi Cissé 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
135% of the income goes out in wages at Bourg-Peronnas
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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“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 dugout5 Oct 2026
Andy Pembélé knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andy Pembélé trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Bourg-Peronnas's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bourg-Peronnas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sidi Cissé and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Teddy Boulhendi has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Mathéo Bodmer
“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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Dijon left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Bourg-Peronnas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Sébastien Jean left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mamadou Conté 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Sep 2026
Monaco go through and Bourg-Peronnas go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Bourg-Peronnas's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bourg-Peronnas has to find a result from somewhere.
Match21 Sep 2026
Position 11, 5 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Sidi Cissé 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Red Star left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathéo Bodmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Nathan Vitré
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Stade Brestois is saying, and nobody at Bourg-Peronnas is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
AS Nancy left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jérôme Barbier has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hervé Richard has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Bourg-Peronnas are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 14 in, 5 out at Bourg-Peronnas
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Bourg-Peronnas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AC Ajaccio, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Sidi Cissé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Andy Pembélé
A mark of 7.27, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Mohamed Boumaaoui
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mohamed Boumaaoui has come out of that comparison in the side, and Bourg-Peronnas have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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 dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sébastien Jean was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Bourg-Peronnas dressing room was either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mamadou Conté 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Stade Lavallois was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with AC Ajaccio; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
No thanks: Enzo Faty rejects the move
Bourg-Peronnas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Toulouse FC, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match29 Aug 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Bourg-Peronnas are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Sidi Cissé and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathéo Bodmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Quentin Lacour
“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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.75 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Toulouse FC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidi Cissé 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tours have kept their man, and Bourg-Peronnas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match22 Aug 2026
AC Ajaccio left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑5 to Chamois Niortais, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad17 Aug 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with Stade Brestois 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sidi Cissé in a row with a teammate
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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Bourg-Peronnas dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Olympique Lyonnais: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Tours 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sidi Cissé 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Bourg-Peronnas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathéo Bodmer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Philippe Robin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Philippe François is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Robert Gonzalez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hervé Gautier is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead10 Aug 2026
Bourg-Peronnas take on the side everybody is chasing
Chamois Niortais arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 7.76 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Quentin Lacour and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Teddy Boulhendi 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sidi Cissé falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mohamed Boumaaoui 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Valenciennes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Andy Pembélé at his very best
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Bourg-Peronnas.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Bourg-Peronnas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Monaco 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.