From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 46 days on the sidelines for Jean Marchal, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match25 Sep 2027
FC Metz left with the points after a 1-2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Sep 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Sep 2027
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.
Market6 Sep 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Michel Barbier reports back to Tours with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Philippe Renaud: 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
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.
Match4 Sep 2027
Tours make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Tours have 3 straight wins of it.
Market6 Sep 2027
Frédéric Robert 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.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tours, and 0 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
Match4 Sep 2027
A 1-0 win over AS Nancy, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad6 Sep 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
Match28 Aug 2027
14 unbeaten for Tours
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Tours did not have in the autumn.
Squad30 Aug 2027
There were 8 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Michel Barbier: 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
FC Lorient 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
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.
Match28 Aug 2027
Three points for Tours, 3-1 the final word against Stade Lavallois in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad30 Aug 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
He is 18, and nobody at Tours signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market30 Aug 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alexis Busin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Tours.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match14 Aug 2027
12 unbeaten for Tours
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Tours did not have in the autumn.
Squad16 Aug 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Tours have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market16 Aug 2027
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.
Squad16 Aug 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
US Creteil are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Tours will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match14 Aug 2027
Tours share the spoils with Dijon
A 2-2 draw with Dijon leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market16 Aug 2027
He is 18, and nobody at Tours signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad16 Aug 2027
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Tours have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Aug 2027
11 unbeaten for Tours
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Tours did not have in the autumn.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market9 Aug 2027
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.
Squad9 Aug 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Tours and Nimes take a point apiece
It finished 1-1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Laurent Sanchez keeps the shirt for now, at Tours's convenience rather than his own.
Market9 Aug 2027
A season-long audition: LOSC Lille still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Tours's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Market9 Aug 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Matthieu Ezikian may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match31 Jul 2027
10 unbeaten for Tours
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Tours did not have in the autumn.
Market2 Aug 2027
Bruno Tiago 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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.
Match31 Jul 2027
Valenciennes made Tours work for it, but the scoreboard read 3-1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Théo Collin
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Tours have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jun 2027
$590.0K — a new record at Tours
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“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
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Jun 2027
At 19, Michel Barbier is already the best thing here
An average of 7.35 in a first team he is several years too young for. Tours have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market7 Jun 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Jean Marchal 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
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2027
At 19, Michel Barbier is already the best thing here
An average of 7.35 in a first team he is several years too young for. Tours have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market10 May 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Ferris N'Goma 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
Market1 Mar 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
Frédéric Robert 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.15 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.
Squad1 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 35 with 1 appearances behind him, and Tours have to plan for both answers.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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
Squad4 Jan 2027
There were 8 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.
Market4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
At 21, Stanis Idumbo is already the best thing here
An average of 7.12 in a first team he is several years too young for. Tours have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Match2 Jan 2027
7 unbeaten for Tours
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Tours did not have in the autumn.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Clermont Foot to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tours and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Match2 Jan 2027
Three points for Tours, 2-0 the final word against Stade Lavallois in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of José Capon
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The award goes to Stanis Idumbo, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tours has been clear about where Emmanuel Leclerc stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Dec 2026
6 unbeaten for Tours
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Tours did not have in the autumn.
Match26 Dec 2026
AC Ajaccio made Tours work for it, but the scoreboard read 2-1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 126% of everything Tours earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Ashkan Alijani keeps the shirt for now, at Tours's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2026
5-0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tours, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Alexis Busin 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
5 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad14 Dec 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Tours have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
111% of the income goes out in wages at Tours
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match28 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Clermont Foot came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 0-1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Tours lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3-0 against Dijon, and it could have been more.
Match31 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Tours
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tours, and 2 appearances in 8 say he has earned the hearing.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
111% of the income goes out in wages at Tours
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Tours have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Bruno Tiago
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and Nicolas Hubert sits out. Tours lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Market2 Nov 2026
Tours have made Mamadou Camara available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match24 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Tours
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match24 Oct 2026
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
At 19, Michel Barbier is already the best thing here
An average of 7.06 in a first team he is several years too young for. Tours have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match24 Oct 2026
1-1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market26 Oct 2026
The name of Nicolas Hubert keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tours say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Kaj Ramsteijn 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.
Market26 Oct 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jackson Caucaia may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Tours
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Ceuta to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tours and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 8 matches say the rest.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of José Capon
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match10 Oct 2026
A 1-1 draw with Sochaux leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market12 Oct 2026
Tours bring in an old head
Clément Michel is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Market12 Oct 2026
Experience through the door at Tours
Babacar Diallo arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market12 Oct 2026
Experience through the door at Tours
Hendricks Cakin arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2026
Tours out of the cup
Olympique Lyonnais ended it 2-2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Frédéric Robert: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 2-0 win over Chamois Niortais, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Alexis Busin 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aboubakar Diaby commits to Tours for another 4 years.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Sep 2026
Nimes made Tours work for it, but the scoreboard read 2-1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 1-1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad7 Sep 2026
At 26 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at Tours are won quietly and lost loudly.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Emmanuel Leclerc is 35, with 1 appearances behind him, and Tours will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Théodore Charles 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
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Aug 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Alexandre David reports back to Tours with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Frédéric Robert and Tours agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Frédéric Robert
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Olivier Sanchez has come up in conversations Tours were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jean Marchal 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
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Tours have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match1 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Tours against Dijon
0-1 to Dijon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
42 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tours has been clear about where Alexandre Picard stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Michel Barbier
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Frédéric Robert 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.