Marked for Émile Chevalier
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
Giugliano 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Émile Chevalier commits to Tours for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Tours
Thomas Leroux 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Leroux, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Émile Chevalier 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Raymond Carpentier has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Tours.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Tours heard it as anything else.
Squad3 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Olivier Gonzalez and Tours agree another 2 years.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jean-Luc Olivier, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
No place for Louis Barré in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Louis Barré has his answer from Tours; what he does with it is the next window’s story.