Marked for Marcel Da Silva
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Apr 2028
8 matches without a win for Tours
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Tours are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 Apr 2028
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.
Market10 Apr 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Defensive actions: 28, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad10 Apr 2028
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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
The team sheet said everything about Gabriel Hubert
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Gabriel Hubert.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“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.
Match8 Apr 2028
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. FC Nantes came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
The chances came and went for Luc Carpentier
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Mar 2028
“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 Mar 2028
“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.
Match18 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Tours's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tours has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Tours
Mads Bidstrup 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 terraces20 Mar 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jérôme Rolland 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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad20 Mar 2028
The medical room confirms 41 days on the sidelines for Daniel Aubert, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad20 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Federico Nardin
“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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Noa Boutin could not find anything
4.98. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match6 Mar 2028
Tours sink to position 16
24 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market6 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marcel Da Silva and Tours agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Tours
Mads Bidstrup 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A move Erwan Antonin would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Erwan Antonin is living that version at Tours, and it tends to show in the first month.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Ninety minutes of Mads Bidstrup at his very best
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tours.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces28 Feb 2028
The mood at Tours has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Thomas Le Roux out for 17 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Giovanni Daffara: 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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.25 for the rest of it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Tours and FC Lorient, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.58, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Irvyn Lomami, and the manager let it.
Match26 Feb 2028
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Feb 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tours may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market21 Feb 2028
Aldo Encinas 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Tours
Mads Bidstrup 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Daniel Garcia among the goals in a wild afternoon
8 goals in one match, Daniel Garcia on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Tours and Stade Brestois.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Maillard 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 ratings21 Feb 2028
Ninety minutes of Mads Bidstrup at his very best
Marked 8.47. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tours.
Match19 Feb 2028
4‑4, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
5.20 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
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.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
The mood at Tours has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Daniel Garcia ran the middle of the pitch — 7.54
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 25 combined actions and a mark of 7.54, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Rémi Dumas: 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
“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 Jan 2028
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Stéphane Maillard 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.
Match29 Jan 2028
Daniel Garcia scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to OGC Nice, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“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
Uneasy
Squad27 Dec 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
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.
Squad27 Dec 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.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Ninety minutes of Mads Bidstrup at his very best
Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tours.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
The cruellest goal, and it is Thimothé David's
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Tours will not try tonight.
Match25 Dec 2027
It needed Mads Bidstrup to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Monaco, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Henri François 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 terraces27 Dec 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Daniel Garcia
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Marked 5.64. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Tours's wait for a win
19 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tours has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Dec 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mads Bidstrup 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Louis Bury commits to Tours for another 2 years.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jérôme Rolland 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
LOSC Lille left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Louis Bury
“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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Tours
18 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match27 Nov 2027
Tours throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Olympique Lyonnais the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Tours will enjoy reviewing.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Sander Sybrandy: 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.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Pierre Pierre pops up at the right end — 7.54
7.54, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad29 Nov 2027
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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Stéphane Maillard 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Mads Bidstrup
“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.
Match27 Nov 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Olympique Lyonnais leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Tours's wait for a win
17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tours has to find a result from somewhere.
Market22 Nov 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Denis-Will Poha: 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 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mads Bidstrup 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benoît Blanc 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.
Squad22 Nov 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Paris FC left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marked 5.27, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Nov 2027
15 matches without a win for Tours
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Tours are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mads Bidstrup 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Maillard 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
1‑3 to Stade Rennais, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Benoît Blanc
“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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Benoît Blanc is still paying for one afternoon at Tours
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Benoît Blanc
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Marked 4.44, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Tours's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tours has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces25 Oct 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 36 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market25 Oct 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 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tours may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mads Bidstrup 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luc Carpentier, and the manager let it.
Match23 Oct 2027
0‑1 to Stade Brestois, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sander Sybrandy 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 ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Oct 2027
11 matches without a win for Tours
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Tours are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mads Bidstrup 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benoît Blanc 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
The Daniel Garcia signing is not working
8 appearances at an average of 6.26, and the senior players have stopped making excuses for him. It happens to good footballers; it still costs somebody their job.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Benoît Blanc
“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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yves Bonnet and Tours agree another 1 years.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Gabriel Hubert
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Match9 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Le Havre AC will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Tours
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad27 Sep 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Aldo Encinas 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mads Bidstrup 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Maillard 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Hubert, and the manager let it.
Match25 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Sep 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.
Match15 Sep 2027
The cup run ends for Tours
0‑2 against LOSC Lille, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match18 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Tours
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 10 of the 37 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniel Garcia is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Benoît Blanc has improved at 27, 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Market11 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Aldo Encinas: 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rémi Gautier 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Jean Robert 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match9 Jan 2027
Sochaux left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch11 Jan 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 22 say he has earned the hearing.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 Denis-Will Poha.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Market7 Dec 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match7 Dec 2026
Tours up to position 3
28 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Rémi Gautier, 33, rolls back the years — 8.41
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.41 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Tours
Rémi Gautier 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Robert 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Gabriel Hubert’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tours.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Luc Carpentier ran the middle of the pitch — 6.41
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 37 combined actions and a mark of 6.41, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 147 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Rémi Gautier 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Jean Robert 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
1‑2 to Clermont Foot, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jean Robert, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 5.42. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
An afternoon Benoît Blanc will want back
Marked 5.61. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.