Marked for Richard Poirier
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 49. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richard Poirier
96 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Jean-Luc Philippe 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Tours against Nimes
0‑2 to Nimes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Tours game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Olympique de Marseille runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Tours lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richard Poirier
103 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.
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
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 terraces7 Sep 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jean-Luc Philippe. 1‑0 against Valenciennes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rémy Simon 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Léo Schwechlen, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.89. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richard Poirier
112 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Tours
Louis Prévost 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Clermont Foot left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Jean-Luc Rey
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Théodore Roussel 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Tours have let the market know Olivier Morin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Daniel Sanchez
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
Richard Poirier damages knee ligaments — 122 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 122 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Tours scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
AJ Auxerre 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.
Market24 Aug 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Luc Philippe 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
AS Nancy made Tours work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market17 Aug 2026
Tours sell their best player to Monaco
$14.4M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
$660.0K — 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Richard Poirier damages knee ligaments — 129 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 129 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
Tours say no — this time
The offer from Paris FC for Rémy Simon 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $14.4M sale of Frédéric Michel
He is going to Monaco, the club has $14.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Tours
Louis Prévost 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Tours
4 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Tours spend $660.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $660.0K for Yuliwes Bellache, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Aug 2026
Richard Poirier damages knee ligaments — 137 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 137 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.
Market10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
LOSC Lille 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Louis Prévost commits to Tours for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Tours
Louis Prévost 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.