Marked for Thibault Simon
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Oct 2027
There were 7 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
5 matches without a win for Tours
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Tours are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marc Le Goff and Tours agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Tours
Emmanuel Rey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Oct 2027
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.
Match2 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Pedro Herrera has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Antoine Leroy after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Rémi Caron gets picked when it counts
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 Rémi Caron is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad30 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kassim Doumbia
16 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The paperwork begins on Ilan Kebbal
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tours have done the hard part with Paris FC, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match28 Aug 2027
Tours win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. AJ Auxerre will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.71, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market30 Aug 2027
Marcel Pérez 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
The fee is $7.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Olympique Lyonnais drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Match28 Aug 2027
The run at home goes on for Tours
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad30 Aug 2027
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 ratings30 Aug 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Tours — 7.86
1 for Jean Marchand, marked 7.86, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jul 2027
Kassim Doumbia damages knee ligaments — 52 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Bourg-Peronnas, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Emmanuel Rey 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
FC Lorient pay $24.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Marchand is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thibault Simon, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jul 2027
59 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
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.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Stade Rennais, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Emmanuel Rey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yann Olivier commits to Tours for another 4 years.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Olympique Lyonnais: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antoine Leroy, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
Kassim Doumbia damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tours can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“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 targets28 Jun 2027
The deal with OGC Nice 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Emmanuel Rey 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
The step up is real for Noa Boutin
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 2027
89 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Édouard Leroy is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The deal with Sochaux 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Emmanuel Rey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 24 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.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
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 dugout21 Jun 2027
Thibault Simon 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mathis Raimbault has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Tours.
Market21 Jun 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thibault Simon signs something — a contract at Tours or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom31 May 2027
Silverware for Tours
They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Tours are going up
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
Squad31 May 2027
21 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.
Market31 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Emmanuel Rey 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 May 2027
Mathis Raimbault 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 dugout31 May 2027
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 dugout31 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market31 May 2027
The Emmanuel Rey talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tours know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 May 2027
32 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.
Match24 May 2027
Nobody above Tours
First, on 53 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad24 May 2027
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.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Tours
Marc Le Goff and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
The medical room confirms 46 days on the sidelines for Emmanuel Thomas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout24 May 2027
Émile Prévost 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.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Thomas Gauthier’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 May 2027
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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Quentin Bena knocks on the manager's door
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 May 2027
Kévin Aubeneau damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Tours
Emmanuel Rey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jean Marchand commits to Tours for another 5 years.
Squad17 May 2027
David Texeira 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 dugout17 May 2027
Marcel Pérez 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Rémi Caron gets picked when it counts
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 Rémi Caron is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Apr 2027
23 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Emmanuel Rey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Rémi Caron 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Mathis Raimbault 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 terraces19 Apr 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Emmanuel Rey
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Tours would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Market19 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thibault Simon signs something — a contract at Tours or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market19 Apr 2027
Tours have made Kévin Aubeneau available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
47 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.
Match29 Mar 2027
Nobody above Tours
First, on 53 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Tours
Emmanuel Rey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Marchand 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Émile Prévost gets picked when it counts
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 Émile Prévost is on it.
Market29 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tours know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Thomas Vannoye has written the date down.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Emmanuel Samba asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kévin Aubeneau
105 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A muscle injury and 16 days out for David Texeira
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Tours will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Emmanuel Rey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Jean Marchand 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 Mar 2027
Rémi Caron gets picked when it counts
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 Rémi Caron is on it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Vannoye, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marc Le Goff and Tours agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Tours
Emmanuel Rey 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emmanuel Rey’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Arnaud Breton'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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Pedro Herrera: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tours have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Emmanuel Rey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Tours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Marchand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Marcel Pérez 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Rémi Caron gets picked when it counts
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 Rémi Caron is on it.
Market22 Feb 2027
Antoine Roussel 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 Antoine Roussel stands, which is more than many ever get.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
The Emmanuel Rey rumours reach the terraces
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Tours would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market22 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thibault Simon signs something — a contract at Tours or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Alvin Arrondel: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tours have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Tours
Marc Le Goff and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Jean Marchand 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
9 new faces, and Tours are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Monaco have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Rémi Caron 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Quentin Bena 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. 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
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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 9 in, 2 out at Tours
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Tours
Marc Le Goff and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Tours will try again when the window opens; Chamois Niortais may not be selling by then.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Marchand is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.70. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match5 Sep 2026
It needed Thibault Rivière to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Valenciennes, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
-
Squad
Antoine Leroy is no longer first choice
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Thibault Simon