Football Season Guide

Tours are counting on building on the dynamic of the end of last season as they head into the new campaign. They were bottom of the table 2/3's of the way through the season, before turning things around in remarkable fashion and climbing to finish two places clear of the bottom three. Their revival was masterminded by Noureddine El Ouardani, promoted from his role as youth coach, in the company of Gilbert Zoonekynd. The latter was the 'official' coach with El Ouardani lacking the necessary qualifications. The duo remain at the helm for the coming campaign, as Tours prepare for their 10th straight season at this level. The style of attacking football they introduced for the last three months of last seasn will remain in place. "We are aware of the difficulty of imposing in Ligue 2 a way of playing that we initiated with the youth team. We are not Barcelona! But we must at least try to be coherent in terms of our recruitment to carry on down that road," said Zoonekynd. Nevertheless, last season's star player Denis Bouanga has gone back to Lorient at the end of his loan, as has Faiz Selemani. Talented goalkeeper Bingourou Kamara has moved up to Ligue 1 with Strasbourg. However, new signings like Hameur Bouazza, the Algerian international creator brought back to France after a short spell in Tunisia, and former Laval winger Romain Bayard will hope to adapt quickly. "They are adhering to the new philosophy, technical players who like to play. We took risks last year and they paid off. Even though we have lost players, there are still foundations to build on," added veteran forward Bryan Bergougnoux.