They are getting tired but they are still there. Behind their team. Supporters of Tours FC, subjected for ages to the Scottish shower regime, believed they had known everything with their favorite club. But the last tragicomic episode of the weekend (cancellation at the last moment Saturday December 21 from December 32e final against the professionals from Lorient) concludes with an elimination on the green carpet Monday December 23, 2024, came like the brackish straw that broke the camel's back.
“We have been doing anything for too long”
For TFC fans the cup is full. « Ashamed “, “distressing”, “humiliating” : on social networks we oscillate between anger, frustration and disbelief. The supporters can no longer even be surprised by the turpitudes of their club.
“The management of Tours FC is disastrous, so far from what that of a company should be, exclaims Christophe, who has supported TFC since 1983. We've been doing anything for too long. We see the result. That Mr. Desmet (the new Belgian owner) is above ground is not the problem. He appointed quality people both for the administrative side (general director Ibrahim Hakaoui) and for the sporting side (coach Bryan Bergougnoux). We must let them work without going through intermediaries who are pests in the world of football. »
This 52-year-old lawyer, expatriated in the Paris region, continues to support his favorite team. “I’ve been there half a dozen times this season. » For him the problem is structural.
A training club
“There have never been people here powerful and charismatic enough to run the house. The last strong men of the club, the Parisian Sebag, the Corsican Ettori and today the Belgian Desmet, are not from Tours. There is a lack of a local president with the backs strong enough to support this training club. »
Aged 23, Benjamin is a die-hard Touraine who has supported the TFC for almost two decades. “My father took me to the Rives-du-Cher stadium when I was six years old. I had a lot of good times and huge disappointments there. »
The last one comes like a sour cherry on a bitter cake. “It’s a huge disillusionment, whispers the receptionist. We had taken our seats. We are delighted to attend this match which should have been a celebration. What a waste. What an injustice for Bryan Bergougnoux, his team and his staff. They have made so much effort, since the second round played at the beginning of August, to get here, in 32e of final. They made us dream. All this journey to end up like this…”
At Tours FC, disappointment does not rhyme with resignation. “People continue to send us messages of support,” confides Romain Régnard, the service provider who managed to sell several boxes for the Tours-Lorient match.
Thousands of places to be reimbursed
What remains are the thousands of tickets sold for €20, €15 and €10, which will have to be reimbursed to devastated supporters. The club, which announces that it is appealing the federal decision, confirmed, via the same press release from Ivan Desmet dated December 23, that “in the event that this decision is confirmed, SASP Tours FC undertakes to reimburse tickets purchased online”.
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