The Tours Chronicle
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules François Aubert out for 36 days
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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Jérôme Martin runs at them all day
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Jérôme Lopez hands in a written request
“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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Tours are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market7 Sep 2026
Eyes on Henri Lacroix again
The phone has started ringing about Henri Lacroix again, and this time the name on the line is Chamois Niortais. Tours are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match5 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Tours against Valenciennes
2‑3 to Valenciennes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A masterclass from Louis Boyer
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Arnaud Philippe
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Pierre Robert dropped after a run of poor form
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
- Squad Arnaud Philippe named in the team of the month
- Player ratings Yves Simon changes it off the bench
- Market The market said no: Olivier Nguyen stays put