THE TWISTS AND TURNS OF THE 2012 “BEAUTIFUL GAME” SEASON: LIGUE 1 (SERIES 2)

   

 

THE  FRENCH LIGUE 1             

Of all the major European football leagues in the 2011/2012 season, the first tier of the French football league system, the Ligue 1 was one that had the most surprising ending and I must add, a fairy tale climax.

The French football league with a huge following in Africa is one that has over the years been the most African dominated league in Europe. This is due to the fact that Ligue 1 has had more Africans playing there compared to other leagues. In addition, Africans playing in other top European leagues most especially the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga had their breakthrough or what I call their European Football Career Roots in the Ligue 1. 

These top players include Didier Drogba of Chelsea who once played for Marseille; Yaya Touré of Manchester City who was once in the colours of Monaco; Marouane Chamakh and Gervinho of Arsenal that were once upon a time Bordeaux and Lille players respectively; Emmanuel Adebayor  of Manchester City or perhaps Tottenham Hotspur who was once a Monaco player; Seydou Keita that once played for Lens, now a Barcelona player; and Michael Essien of Chelsea who once played for Olympique Lyon to mention the very least of these African football greats.

Interestingly, the French Ligue 1 prior to the last 4 seasons, precisely between the 2001/2002 and 2007/2008 seasons had Olympique Lyon in dominance which was marked by their (Lyon) unprecedented seven straight title triumphs. These invincible years of Lyon, with all due respect to all clubs and players that featured in these years of Olympique Lyon’s dominance got me addressing the French League 1 as the birthright of Olympique Lyon. 

But the last four years have made that history and perhaps the glory years of Olympique Lyon and their supporters brought to an end, though maybe for now, just maybe. This arose by the thrilling twist to the French Ligue 1 Champions which was marked by four different teams being Champions of French football. To this end, in the 2008/2009 season Bordeaux stole the shine, displacing Lyon to second place.

Since the displacement of Olympique Lyon from the apex of the apex League in French football (Ligue 1), apart from Bordeaux as earlier mentioned, the other three Champions in successive years to the Bordeaux triumph include; Olympique Marseille in 2009/2010 season; Lille in 2010/2011 season and lately in the most remarkable fashion, Montpellier in the 2011/2012 season.

In my opinion, the 2011/2012 football season across the major European Football leagues as thus, the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A had the French Ligue 1 producing the biggest and most thrilling twist.

In the 2003/2004 season, Montpellier finished at the bottom of the Ligue 1 table with 31 points from 38 matches, having an unremarkable 33 negative goals difference, which as expected necessitated their relegation to the second tier of French football (Ligue 2). Sequel to getting relegated, the current Ligue 1 champions spent 5 seasons (from the 2004/2005 – 2008/2009 seasons) off the spotlight, not until the 2009/2010 when they got back to having a renewed romance with the top flight of French football, remarkably finishing in 5th place. Indeed, this was an impressive performance to followers of the beautiful game from France. 

But sadly in the subsequent season, this was not to be as they failed to produce another impressive performance finishing the 2010/2011 Ligue 1 season in 14th place with 47 points which was 4 places and 3 points above the drop zone occupied by AS Monaco in 18th place with 44 points. Indeed, they escaped relegation with a blink of an eye and no doubt their 2011/2012 triumph is one to behold, commend and talk about forever.

However, prior to the commencement of the 2011/2012 season, Paris Saint – Germain (PSG) had a change in ownership, with the Qatar Investment Authority take over, one very similar with the money spinning take over in Manchester City of the English Premier League. 

Precisely, just like the Abu Dhabi United Group takeover of Manchester City that has got them consistently the highest spenders in English football, the Qatar Investment Authority kicked off the 2011/2012 French transfer window in the most remarkable way ever as far as French football is concerned thereby establishing a new French transfer purchase record of €42m with the signing of Argentina playmaker Javier Pastore from Italian club Palermo. Other high profile players signed in the preseason and 2012 January transfer window include; Mohamed Sissoko from Juventus; Thiago Motta from Inter Milan; Maxwell from Barcelona and Alex from Chelsea to mention four of the fifteen recruits by the French football biggest spenders. These transfers marked a fulfillment of the promise by the PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi whom upon coming on board at the helm of affairs of the richest club in France announced that he expected to invest €100m in the transfer market in years to come to build a strong team. With these transfers, indeed a strong team has been built.

These transfers no questioning produced a high level of expectations by the French Ligue followers, including the football pundits. An expectation which had PSG being the firm favorites to win the 2011/2012 Ligue 1 season and obviously the fourth different team in four years to win the French League 1 after the Lyon era, even though defending champions Lille had in the course of the league (between 20 August – 21 December) recorded a 17 matches unbeaten run. But as at this time, Montpellier HSC was not on the lips of many for a contention of the French Ligue 1 title. 

As against PSG’s 15 signing, the 2011/2012 eventual French Ligue 1 Champions made 5 signings which include; Hilton from Olympique Marseille; Henri Bedimo from  RC Lens; Rémy Cabella from AC Aries- Avignon to mention 3.

But one thing I will point out here is that PSG not winning the Ligue 1, though shocking to many, is not a surprise to me. The reason for this is with regards to having somewhat of a comparison of the PSG takeover with the 2 big takeovers in England within the last decade. 

Firstly, starting with Chelsea F.C. which after the June 2003 takeover by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich have won 1 UEFA Champions League Trophy (2011/2012); 3 Premier League Trophies (2009/2010, 2005/2006, 2004/2005); 4 FA Cup Trophies (2012, 2010, 2009, 2007); 2 League Cup Trophies (2007 and 2005) and lastly, 2 Community Shields (2009 and 2005). All these bring to total 12 trophies in the 9 years of the Roman Abramovich ownership of the club. 

Though not pushing aside the awesome 2011/2012 UEFA Champions League outstanding triumph of Chelsea, the most remarkable of all these triumphs is the 2004/2005 Premier League victory by Chelsea which was their first Premier League trophy since the 1954/1955 season, further shedding more light on the impact money invested in the right way on the right crop of players have in bringing (buying) trophies to the club.

Most recently in like fashion is Manchester City. The 2008 takeover of the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group is one very similar with that of PSG as both were taken over my Billionaires from the Middle East who invested so heavily in these clubs. For example, following the 2008 Manchester City takeover by the current owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Nahyan via the Abu Dhabi United Group, Manchester City purchased Robinho from Real Madrid for a then transfer record fee of ₤32.5m  

But in comparison with Chelsea, it took Manchester City 3 years before it won its first major trophy which happened to be the FA Cup marking a 42 years wait for the FA Cup coming to an end. In addition, the Premier League which had been a 44 year wait was put to an end in the just concluded 2011/2012 season, a season that also witnessed a big twist on the final day, one of a kind.

At this juncture, it is pertinent to point out that though the financial strength of a club is contributory to its success. However, the popular saying by a handful of followers of the game “Money cannot buy trophies” played its part to the twists and turns of the 2012 football year witnessed in the French first tier football division. 

In this respect, credits should be given to the Montpellier gaffer René Girard for producing a right blend to the squad, a blend that inculcated that it is not just about the numbers and money being little but about the quality of the little number of recruited players being much bigger and remarkable which entails the efficiency of the little cash spent on efficient transfers. John Utaka, a January 2011 recruit was greatly contributory to the success of Montpellier as he scored the two goals on the final day of the 2011/2012 season to gift Montpellier a 2 – 1 victory over Auxerre and of course, the Ligue 1 title.

With the joyousness of the Montpellier players, staff and management, there was no better way to express the remarkable triumph of the league victory than quoting the words of the Montpellier gaffer, René Girard as stated in uefa.com  “This title gives colour to our football and shows that we must not fear anyone, that money is not everything. We are a club of friends with young players coming through our ranks. In the end, the mix wasn’t bad. We have produced great football and there has been a good balance to the team. I’m a bit stunned. This is the best present I could think of for our president.”

No doubt the stun by him is one that was contagiously extended to followers of the French Football league and I must reiterate the biggest twist across the major European leagues.

*Below is a picture of the jubilant players of Montpellier after their Ligue 1 triumph and trophy presentation.

Image Source: frenchfootballweekly.com

Though I am not a gaffer but somewhat of a pundit or better put, an addicted passionate follower of the beautiful game, I posit that the integral part to the success of any football team lies in the ability of the coach to collectively bring out the best in the team and not an individual. Based on the aforesaid, Montpellier were 5 star in their ability to integrate adequately the players to produce the oneness of the team which yielded their first ever trophy.

With the 2012/2013 season to kick off on Friday, 10 August 2012, one will only expect another twist to the French league with another team winning it which would make it 5 different teams in 5 years. No doubt, there is only one team in my mind, though they were pretty close in the 2011/2012 but the 2012/2013 season will be theirs, maybe. I do not need to mention as I bet you all know.

To this end, no questioning, the forthcoming season will be more thrilling as other teams would also believe they can win the Ligue 1, all thanks to the remarkably unprecedented triumph of Montpellier that was done in silent style.

Please watch out for Series 3 and as usual, I will enjoin you all to get your fingers crossed on the next team to be discussed…

Thank you for dropping by!

REFERENCES

“Chelsea F.C.” Wikipedia 14 June 2012 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_F.C.> 

Eddie, Griffin “Top 10 Most Expensive Football Transfers” Soccer Lens 3 Sep. 2008. 25 May 2012 <soccerlens.com/top-10-most-expensive-transfers-in-football/5244/>

“France Ligue 1 2011/2012 Transfers” Worldfootball.net 31 May 2012 <www.worldfootball.net/transfers/fra-ligue-1-2011-2012/> 

French football’s 56m man PSG poster boy Pastore” CNN  1 Mar. 2012. 29 May 2012 <edition.cnn.com/2012/03/01/sport/football/football.psg-pastore-higuain/index.html>

“List of French football champions” Wikipedia 29 May 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_football_champions> 

“Manchester City Trophy Cabinet” The Football Club  17 June 2012 <www.the-football-club.com/manchester-city-trophy-cabinet.html>

“Manchester City F.C.” Wikipedia 15 June 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_City_F.C.>

“Montpellier HSC” Wikipedia 10 June 2012 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montpellier_HSC>

“Paris Saint –Germain F.C.” Wikipedia 30 May 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Saint-Germain_F.C.>

Sébastian, Blanchard and Christian Châtelet “Season review: France” UEFA.com 22 May 2012. 26 May 2012 <http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/news/newsid=1800290.html>  

 “Trophy cabinet” chelseafc.com  15 June 2012. <www.chelseafc.com/page/HistoryTrophiesIndex>