Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christophe Roger will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tours the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Lucas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Strasbourg have kept their man, and Tours go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
Tours asked and Westerlo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 46. 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tours people have started saying his name in the past tense.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FC Lorient is saying, and nobody at Tours is enjoying the guessing.
Émile Schmitt 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Tours and Stade Lavallois, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Tours had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Khalis Merah did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Marked 8.46 — 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.
Émile Schmitt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Lucas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Noham Hamdaoua has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tours can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Khalis Merah did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Tours game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ra'ed runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
Émile Schmitt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Tours told Benoît Rémy something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Tours are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
24 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Successful dribbles: 46. 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.
Émile Schmitt 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 Oct 2028
Patrick Lucas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tours are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
6 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.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Frédéric Legrand was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Tours dressing room was either.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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 Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Émile Schmitt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Lucas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Tours will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oumar Sidibé has just signed for Tours, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.01, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Joshua Dago, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.28
A mark of 8.28 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tours know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Tours and AC Ajaccio in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.27 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Robin Maulun at his very best
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
RC Lens go through and Tours go home, 0‑7 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marked 8.41 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
A cup hiding at RC Lens leaves Tours explaining themselves
0-7, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Émile Schmitt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tours is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger 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.
Tours ran out of time with Paris FC. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Tours are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Clermont Foot the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Tours will enjoy reviewing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Christophe Roger provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Vitesse for Benoît Rémy was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Tours and Paris FC have settled on $480.0K. 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Tours close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 16 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tours have done the hard part with Olympique de Marseille, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Tours had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Stade Brestois, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vitesse waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tours is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A brace, and Émile Schmitt takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Émile Schmitt provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Clément Michel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tours the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tours had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Clermont Foot, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
At 23 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.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
$30.0M on the table at Le Havre AC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from AVS for Christophe Roger was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
In brief
Player ratingsAge has not caught Charles Thomas yet — 7.88
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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Red Star had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Tours did not stop to explain themselves.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tours people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tours they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo thanks: Mathis Lainé rejects the move
SquadJoshua Dago is a better footballer than he was
The clubs have shaken hands with Nimes; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Vitesse for Benoît Rémy was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alvin Arrondel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tours the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Lorient have kept their man, and Tours go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutQuentin Bena knocks on the manager’s door
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Benoît Roche had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Tours have made the call to Stade Rennais. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tours, and both men came out saying it was fine.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tours have done the hard part with FC Metz, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympique de Marseille is saying, and nobody at Tours is enjoying the guessing.
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Tours asked and Stade Lavallois said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gabriel Menezes is living that version at Tours, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tours they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Tours have made the call to Olympique de Marseille. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
It is arithmetic now, and the arithmetic is done. A summer of hard questions starts early at Tours, and next season's fixture list reads very differently.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Guillaume Adam has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tours is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Tours hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The phone has started ringing about Jacques Giraud again, and this time the name on the line is Toulouse FC. Tours are listening politely and promising nothing.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tours know it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Quentin Bena trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tours have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Guillaume Adam has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Émile Schmitt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Émile Schmitt is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sambou Sissoko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tours. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Tours would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Augusto Melgarejo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 17 on 16 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Émile Schmitt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Lucas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Guillaume Adam has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Émile Schmitt 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.
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Tours and OGC Nice in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tours can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Guillaume Adam left the room before anybody could ask which.
Émile Schmitt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
RC Strasbourg left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Guillaume Adam to a room that had heard them before.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Paris Saint-Germain.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Édouard Muller has his answer from Tours; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
SquadJoshua Dago, 18, is the weekend’s best young player
Tours interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Guillaume Adam keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Joshua Dago 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Raymond Colin. 2‑0 against Stade Rennais, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Raymond Colin at his very best
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Lucas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Émile Schmitt. 2‑1 against FC Lorient, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Antoine Dufour on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
16 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chamois Niortais were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.68 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Émile Schmitt 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Tours will try again when the window opens; US Creteil may not be selling by then.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
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.
Position 18 and 5 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 10 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Tours asked and US Creteil said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadWords at Tours training over how hard people work
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Heerenveen had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tours have done the hard part with Nimes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
Émile Schmitt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Lucas 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
US Creteil have accepted the money. What Tours do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Add another name to the list: Heerenveen have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Charles Thomas. The answer from Tours has not changed — yet.
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tours will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tours will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
1‑5 to Olympique de Marseille, 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 17 and 4 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Émile Schmitt 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.
6 goals in one match, Charles Thomas on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Tours and Olympique de Marseille.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tours will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 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.
Nobody at Tours will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tours, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Sambou Sissoko'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.
2‑6 to Stade Rennais, 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
Raymond Colin 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.
8 goals in one match, Émile Schmitt on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Tours and Stade Rennais.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger 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.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 5 saves does not settle it either way.
Position 18 and 3 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joshua Dago did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Émile Schmitt 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.84 beside his name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Tours will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robin Maulun is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jacques Huet after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tours will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A brace, and Raymond Colin takes the afternoon — 9.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Raymond Colin provided it, and the 9.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chamois Niortais made Tours work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jacques Huet kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutÉmile Schmitt has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tours will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tours will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Émile Schmitt 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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Jacques Huet left the room before anybody could ask which.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tours will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emmanuel Maillard is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tours will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
RC Lens go through and Tours go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
At 18 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.
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tours.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Jacques Huet left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tours will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Tours close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 13 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.
Émile Schmitt was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roger Rolland is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Guilherme Paula is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Clermont Foot have kept their man, and Tours go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Tours $1.0M. Guillaume Leclercq left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Khalis Merah 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.
Tours offered $110.0K; Monaco said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Patrick Lucas 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.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger 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.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 2, 58 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Émile Schmitt signs something — a contract at Tours or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Sambou Sissoko has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutSékou Doucouré asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Émile Schmitt 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Patrick Lucas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He 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.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Tours would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tours, and both men came out saying it was fine.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tours have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Émile Schmitt 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Augusto Melgarejo has just signed for Tours, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Roger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Olivier Louis is somebody else's player now, and $690.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tours lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Roger 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Didier Gonzalez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Émile Schmitt signs something — a contract at Tours or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tours. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.