The Tours Chronicle
Match12 Sep 2026
Emmanuel Nicolas leads the rout of Nimes
4‑0, and Emmanuel Nicolas took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Tours tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Emmanuel Nicolas scores twice — 8.57
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Hervé Giraud
There were 7 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Gabriel Fernandez 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Tours do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A masterclass from Nicolas Morin
Marked 8.97 — 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.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
The crowd has taken to Nicolas Morin
At 22 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
One of those days for Gabriel Fernandez
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Yves Poirier
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yves Poirier, and the manager let it.
In brief
- Loan watch Richard Cousin has seen enough of Stade Lavallois
- Squad Emmanuel Nicolas is off the mark for Tours
- Squad Nicolas Morin named player of the week