Marked for Louis Picard
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Raivis Gabovs
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jelgava lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Janis Gabovs 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Louis Picard gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Louis Picard has just signed for Jelgava, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Jan 2028
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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Liepaja will make the call about Alvis Bulvitis this week. Jelgava have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market17 Jan 2028
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Jelgava could ask drops and the wages Kristian Hjelvik Halvorsen can ask rise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom31 May 2027
Promotion for Tours
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Squad31 May 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.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Florian Rombogouera has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Tours have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tours know it.
Squad31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Denis-Will Poha
“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
Steady
Squad3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Louis Bury and Tours agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tours may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market8 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Feb 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.
Market8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 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.
Loan watch8 Feb 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 26 say he has earned the hearing.
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
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Philippe Vincent
34 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.
Market9 Nov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Tours
Jean Robert 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tours know it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Loan watch9 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 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.