The Tours Chronicle
Match1 Aug 2026
Yves Fernandez leads the rout of Dijon
3‑0, and Yves Fernandez took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Tours tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Yves Fernandez takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yves Fernandez provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market3 Aug 2026
Tours turn down Giugliano for Théodore François
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Guillaume Robin 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Tours may not be able to give Hernán Gómez what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Hernán Gómez wants continental football; whether Tours can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Stéphane Fournier
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Émile Garnier
At 21 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Émile Lacroix
“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 ratings3 Aug 2026
A masterclass from Mathieu Clément
Marked 8.44 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
- Squad Words at Tours training over how hard people work
- Player ratings Nothing got past Benoît Marty
- Squad Stéphane Fournier knocks on the manager’s door