From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
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
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Rayan Souici
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Bourg-Peronnas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Squad24 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑1 to AC Ajaccio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
The one thing Elysée Logbo could not do
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Chamois Niortais left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sidi Cissé gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.62 — 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market17 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Cheikh Koïté has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Bourg-Peronnas.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 4.30 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
The one thing Elysée Logbo could not do
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jean-Pascal Fontaine, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Sidi Cissé
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paul Maisonneuve and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 1 years.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Nimes leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market10 Aug 2026
Maher Bouyadel is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bourg-Peronnas has been clear about where Maher Bouyadel stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market10 Aug 2026
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Rayan Souici
Defensive actions: 27. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rayan Souici and Bourg-Peronnas agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Rayan Souici 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Elysée Logbo
“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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Quentin Lacour. 1‑0 against Valenciennes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.53, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mamadou Conté has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Bourg-Peronnas.