Marked for Frédéric Collet
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
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.
Market5 Aug 2030
“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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
56 days out for Frédéric Collet after a fracture
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.
Market5 Aug 2030
Only the photograph left for Vasco Hervouet
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vasco Hervouet will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tours the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market5 Aug 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
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.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
Everything agreed with Paris Saint-Germain, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad5 Aug 2030
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jul 2030
“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.
Boardroom29 Jul 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at Tours
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Tours is running low.
Squad29 Jul 2030
63 days out for Frédéric Collet after a fracture
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.
Market29 Jul 2030
Tours say no — this time
The offer from Rosenborg for Hervé Dupuy 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.
Market29 Jul 2030
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.
Market29 Jul 2030
Massamba Sow has one foot out of the door
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.
Boardroom29 Jul 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Massamba Sow has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Words exchanged at Tours
Rodrigo Pinheiro 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 targets29 Jul 2030
Tours 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Frédéric Collet out for 70 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.
Market22 Jul 2030
“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.
Market22 Jul 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
The deal with Paris Saint-Germain is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words exchanged at Tours
Dominique Aubry 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 dugout22 Jul 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Jul 2030
Hervé Dupuy 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 dugout22 Jul 2030
Dominique Aubry has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Market22 Jul 2030
Still no signature from Hervé Dupuy
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Tours could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Jul 2030
77 days out for Frédéric Collet after a fracture
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.
Market15 Jul 2030
“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.
Market15 Jul 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Tours have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
The deal with Paris Saint-Germain is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad15 Jul 2030
A falling-out at Tours
Mamadou Doumbia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jul 2030
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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hervé Dupuy 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 targets15 Jul 2030
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.
Market15 Jul 2030
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Giovanni Reyna may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Tours can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 Jul 2030
“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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Frédéric Collet out for 84 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.
Market8 Jul 2030
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.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
The clubs have shaken hands with Red Star; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market8 Jul 2030
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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
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.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and Tours go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Flores 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
Uneasy
Market1 Jul 2030
“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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
91 days out for Frédéric Collet after a fracture
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.
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
Pressure builds in the Tours boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market1 Jul 2030
Tours say no — this time
The offer from Napoli for Hervé Dupuy 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.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tours have done the hard part with Angers SCO, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Tempers go at Tours
Mamadou Doumbia 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.
Market1 Jul 2030
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Francisco Flores wants continental football; whether Tours can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad1 Jul 2030
A row about effort at Tours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amine Moussaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Nantes have kept their man, and Tours go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jun 2030
98 days out for Frédéric Collet after a fracture
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.
Market24 Jun 2030
“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.
Market24 Jun 2030
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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Tempers go at Tours
Rodrigo Pinheiro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad24 Jun 2030
Amine Moussaoui 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.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
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.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
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.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
Dominique Aubry has become a man the manager trusts
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jun 2030
A fracture rules Frédéric Collet out for 105 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.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
“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.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Fee done, terms next for Ethan Schulz
Tours and Angers SCO have settled on $860.0K. 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.
Market17 Jun 2030
Stipe Vulikić 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.
Market17 Jun 2030
The phone has started ringing about Hervé Dupuy again, and this time the name on the line is TSG Hoffenheim. Tours are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market17 Jun 2030
Tours say no — this time
The offer from Stade Brestois for Matthias Da Silva 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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
“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.
Boardroom17 Jun 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A falling-out at Tours
Dominique Aubry 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
Uneasy
Squad10 Jun 2030
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.
Market10 Jun 2030
“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.
Market10 Jun 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valenciennes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tours is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
The clubs have shaken hands with Red Star; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad10 Jun 2030
A falling-out at Tours
Rodrigo Pinheiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jun 2030
A row about effort at Tours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amine Moussaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
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.
Market10 Jun 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Tours have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Jun 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikola Zečević commits to Tours for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jun 2030
119 days out for Frédéric Collet after a fracture
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.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Tours can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 Jun 2030
“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.
Market3 Jun 2030
FC Nantes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Tours did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Tours
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $875.0K of what Tours paid for Sofiane Alakouch is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tours may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Jun 2030
Rodrigo Pinheiro wants to know where this is going
“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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Tempers go at Tours
Dominique Aubry 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
Uneasy
Squad27 May 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 May 2030
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.
Squad27 May 2030
Words exchanged at Tours
Mamadou Doumbia 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 dugout27 May 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom27 May 2030
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Yanis Parisot has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Tours have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The dugout27 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hervé Dupuy, and the manager let it.
Squad27 May 2030
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Flores is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout27 May 2030
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.
Market27 May 2030
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Adam Delplace has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Tours.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 May 2030
A fracture rules Frédéric Collet out for 133 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.
Market20 May 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sofiane Alakouch will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tours the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market20 May 2030
“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.
Squad20 May 2030
A falling-out at Tours
Mamadou Doumbia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 May 2030
Hervé Dupuy 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 dugout20 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sofiane Alakouch, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 May 2030
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.
The dugout20 May 2030
Hervé Dupuy 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.
Market20 May 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dominique Aubry signs something — a contract at Tours or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Oct 2029
Lucas Droyaux 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.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad15 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Tours
Dominique Aubry 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Tours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hervé Dupuy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stipe Vulikić, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dominique Aubry is on it.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Jokin Gabilondo 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.
Market15 Oct 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tours, another week without a signature from Claudio Manzi.
Market15 Oct 2029
Frédéric Collet is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tours has been clear about where Frédéric Collet stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Aug 2029
Bakary Camara breaks a bone — 27 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Aug 2029
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.
Market27 Aug 2029
“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.
Market27 Aug 2029
The bid was some way short and Tours did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Tours
Dominique Aubry 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 dugout27 Aug 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad27 Aug 2029
Rémi Hubert 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.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
Tours asked and RC Lens 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 terraces27 Aug 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Amine Moussaoui 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.