Marked for Mathieu Brunet
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
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.
Market30 Oct 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 The request is on a desk at Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market30 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tours is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Laurent Abergel 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.
The terraces30 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Robert Meunier 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Robert Meunier’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tours.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Fahri Ay 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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
7.88, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Tours had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Loan watch30 Oct 2028
“I watch every Tours game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at FC Lorient runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Nobody could get near Edi Semedo
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Oct 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 The request is on a desk at Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Oct 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tours they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arnaud Denis and Tours agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Laurent Abergel 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Ousmane Ba 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roger Gérard, and the manager let it.
Loan watch2 Oct 2028
“I watch every Tours game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at FC Lorient runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for François Mercier
29 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.
Market24 Jul 2028
Tours say no — this time
The offer from Sporting CP for Raymond Garcia 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.
Market24 Jul 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.
Market24 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Thimothé David
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thimothé David will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tours the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Raymond Garcia is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Tours
Julien Renault 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
$27.3M from Stade Rennais for Jérôme Dumont. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for François Mercier
59 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.
Market26 Jun 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.
The terraces26 Jun 2028
Supporters turn on the $27.3M sale of Jérôme Dumont
He is going to Stade Rennais, the club has $27.3M 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
Thibault David has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tours they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Tours
Julien Renault 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
François Mercier damages knee ligaments — 102 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Market15 May 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.
Squad15 May 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Roger Gérard 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.
Squad15 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Raymond Guillot trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 May 2028
The name of Mathieu Brunet keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tours say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for François Mercier
131 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.
Market17 Apr 2028
Édouard Pons 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Édouard Pons: 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Tours
Julien Renault 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 Apr 2028
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Alaba 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.
Market17 Apr 2028
The name of Mathieu Brunet keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tours say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 72. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match20 Feb 2028
Tours come up short in Europe
0‑2 away to the standard of Young Boys. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Squad21 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Roger Gérard 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 ratings21 Feb 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Feb 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 59. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match22 Jan 2028
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.
Market24 Jan 2028
Tours say no — this time
The offer from AVS for Julien Renault 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
Hugo Lamy 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Tours
Julien Renault 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Alaba 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 Jan 2028
0‑1 to Olympique Lyonnais, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Roger Gérard
“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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Tours told Julien Renault something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 70. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market6 Dec 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market6 Dec 2027
Fahri Ay puts it in writing
“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.
Market6 Dec 2027
Mathieu Dufour wants to know where this is going
“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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Julien Renault 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
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Alaba 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mathieu Dufour. 2‑1 against Le Havre AC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad6 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Nov 2027
A one-man rearguard from Juan Musso
There were 10 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.
Match13 Nov 2027
A hiding for Tours
Beaten 1‑4 by Paris Saint-Germain, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market15 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.
Match15 Nov 2027
Every point is an argument now for Tours
Position 16 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mathieu Dufour 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
David Alaba 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.
Squad15 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.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Boardroom15 Nov 2027
Nobody left the Tours dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Hugo Lamy: 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mathieu Dufour 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.
Market1 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
David Alaba 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Toulouse FC left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Oct 2027
Tours do the business in Europe
3‑2. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Tours came through the finding-out well against Rosenborg.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
A brace, and Mathieu Dufour takes the afternoon — 8.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathieu Dufour provided it, and the 8.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad4 Oct 2027
David Alaba 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.
The terraces4 Oct 2027
Tours supporters have found a favourite in Thomas Petit
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Thomas Petit 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roger Gérard 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 ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 8.11 — 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Roger Gérard gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Jean wants to go home
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Christopher Luhaka damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Match4 Sep 2027
Tours taken apart
0‑3 to Stade Rennais, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad6 Sep 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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.
Market6 Sep 2027
Mathieu Dufour wants to know where this is going
“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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thimothé David is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market6 Sep 2027
The paperwork is done: Ousmane Ba joins from FC Metz in a deal worth $690.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mathieu Dufour 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jul 2027
87 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Idris Bounaas breaks a bone — 52 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Jul 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
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
115 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Quentin Bena breaks a bone — 39 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom31 May 2027
Tours have won it
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
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
A fracture rules Quentin Bena out for 72 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mathieu Dufour 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Hugo Lamy 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
Raymond Garcia knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tours, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules Quentin Bena out for 102 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.
Squad3 May 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Mathieu Dufour 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
Quentin Bena breaks a bone — 132 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 132 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richecard Richard
15 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christopher Luhaka and Tours agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Tours release $161.5K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richecard Richard
45 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.
Squad8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tours are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Tours
Julien Renault 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 Feb 2027
Roger Gérard 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christopher Luhaka, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The award goes to Mathieu Dufour, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Tours release $161.5K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hilan Hamzaoui Slimani has just signed for Tours, and for once the answer mattered.
Loan watch1 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 6 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.