Marked for Daniel Fleury
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jan 2036
Nikola Jovanović damages knee ligaments — 140 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 140 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.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Jan 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Tours, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Volodymyr Shvets: 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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Tempers go at Tours
Yann Roussel 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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Remy Rees-Dottin 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.
Match12 Jan 2036
It needed Daniel Fleury to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Valenciennes, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market14 Jan 2036
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Richard Laine signs something — a contract at Tours or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market14 Jan 2036
The clock does Julien Trichet’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Tours could ask drops and the wages Julien Trichet can ask rise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Kenneth Brobbey damages knee ligaments — 116 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 116 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.
Market12 Nov 2035
“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.
Market12 Nov 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christ Dégnan Konan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tours the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Nov 2035
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.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Tidiane Devernois 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 terraces12 Nov 2035
At 23 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.
Match10 Nov 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Julien Trichet. 1‑0 against AC Ajaccio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Nov 2035
Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Tours had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Sep 2035
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.
Market17 Sep 2035
“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.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Tempers go at Tours
Yann Roussel 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 Sep 2035
The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Daniel Fleury, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match15 Sep 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Fleury. 1‑0 against FC Metz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christ Dégnan Konan 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Sep 2035
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Sep 2035
“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.
Match8 Sep 2035
No end in sight to Tours's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tours has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Sep 2035
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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Tidiane Devernois 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 terraces10 Sep 2035
At 23 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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julien Trichet, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Sep 2035
7.85, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Tours had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match8 Sep 2035
Honours even between Tours and RC Lens
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Tours can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 Sep 2035
“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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
Crisis meeting at Tours
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad3 Sep 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tours may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Sep 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marc Roussel and Tours agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Tempers go at Tours
Yann Roussel 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.
Match1 Sep 2035
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tidiane Devernois 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
162% of the income goes out in wages at Tours
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings20 Aug 2035
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market20 Aug 2035
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.
Market20 Aug 2035
Tom Auvré 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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Tempers go at Tours
Yann Roussel 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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
A move Paul Philippe would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Paul Philippe is living that version at Tours, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom20 Aug 2035
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Tours
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tidiane Devernois 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.
Match18 Aug 2035
Chamois Niortais left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market20 Aug 2035
One of our own: Henri Le Gall joins the Tours first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Henri Le Gall is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom6 Aug 2035
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad6 Aug 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tours may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom6 Aug 2035
Crisis meeting at Tours
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Player ratings6 Aug 2035
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings6 Aug 2035
Marc Roussel, 36, rolls back the years — 8.28
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.28 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market6 Aug 2035
“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.
Market6 Aug 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jean-Baptiste Meyer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tours the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Tempers go at Tours
Richard Laine 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.