First Division. Paris SG was unable to sustain its triumph in 1986 – the champions dropped down. Sochaux ended its strong period with a failure. St. Etienne was nothing like the team they were in the 1970s, FC Nantes was also in decline. Marseille was coming back, Monaco was quite fine, Toulouse was enjoying rather unusually good spell, Auxerre kept strong and Bordeaux had its best season ever.
Rennes – down again, as it happened many times before. Last and relegated with measly 17 points. Absolute outsider despite some good players in the squad. Angloma was learning tough lesson.
Nancy – 19th with 29 points. Relegated, but in a way it was expected to happen for quite sometime. Arsene Wenger going to second level… or may be not? Well, he was not yet the mighty famous coach.
Sochaux – 18th with 31 points. The end of good spell is inevitable for any club, but relegation? The squad was, by names, significantly stronger, than Cannes’, only 3rd in Second Division. Yet, Sochaux lost the promotion/relegation play-off and went down.
Le Havre barely survived – but survived! 17th with 32 points. By names alone, they should have been relegated – only the goalkeeper Casanova and aging Czechoslovakian striker Vizek seemingly were not enough to keep them in the top league. Quite heroic season, there fore.
Struggling St. Etienne – 16th with 33 points. The great Polish midfielder Kasperczak was coaching them now, but the squad was weak – the two Bulgarians, goalscorer Slavkov and the national team captain, central defender Dimitrov, and the Yugoslav Ribar were not classy enough, if compared with the stars of the previous decade. Georgi Dimitrov was special case… he was not happy in France and preferred to return home, which probably affected negatively his play. Krimau and Castaneda were pretty much the only good French players, but second-string stars both… St. Etienne somehow missed the moment for rebuilding and there was no end of suffering.
Toulon – modest club with modest team, so ending 15th with 34 points was not bad at all. Ginola was still only young hopeful.
Lille – 14th with 34 points. Pretty much as usual, Belgians kept them afloat – the coach Heylens and aging Vanderbergh.
Racing (Paris) – 13th with 36 points. One may think that a team led by ‘the Prince’ Francescoli and great Bossis would do better, but in reality Racing was coming back from a long decline and the current goal was to reestablish itself in the top division. The Yugoslav Silvester Takac was coaching them, but frankly he was better player back in the 1960s than coach in the 1980s.
Nantes – 12th with 36 points. In decline, hopefully a temporary one – it was a matter of rebuilding and for the moment it was shaky, despite having two fresh World champions – Burruchaga and Olarticoechea (who unfortunately suffered heavy injury). There was promising young talent – Desailly and Deschamps – but the team was still dependent on remnants of the 1970s squad – Bertrand-Demanes, Amisse, Anziani. Le Roux was the present, the 1980s, and Suaudeau was good coach, but it was transitional time.
Nice – 11th with 37 points. Lost its leading position a decade ago and settled for mid-table. A squad with potential, but hardly a great potential for Larios, Curbelo, Soler, Piveteau, Oleksiak were somewhat second-string stars.
Lens – 10th with 37 points. Not bad, but with squad like that – nothing more could be done. The former Polish star Joachim Marx was coaching and it was interesting to see how emblematic players of the 1970s transition into coaches – Marx, Kasperczak, Hugo Bargas, Carlos Bianchi, the list was quite long – the bunch of young coaches in the French first and second divisions, who played great football not long ago.
Laval – 9th with 38 points. May be overachieving a bit, for the squad modest, but nobody can blame a team for playing with big hearts and determination.
Brest -another brave team. 8th with 40 points. Nothing much – the Yugoslavs Dostanic and Petrovic were only solid professionals and Le Guen was in the early years of his career – but modesty has its charm: humble, but hearty team. Keruzore was just one more of the well known players from recent past, who was trying his hands at coaching.
There is no logic or meaningful way of explaining, but Paris SG was not cut for greatness… the champions of 1985-86 dropped to 7th position with 41 points now. As if the title in the previous season entirely exhausted them… and that a squad featuring the Yugoslav stars Susic and Halilhodzic, and plethora of French best, still national team members: Rocheteau, Bats, Ayache, Bibard, Couriol, Xuereb, Jeannol, Pilorget… and coached by Houllier. Go figure…
Metz – 6th with 43 points. Another modest squad doing well. Modesty has its strong points, though – perhaps it is the unassuming atmosphere; perhaps it is the relatively equal level of players, so there is no big pressure… maybe the Bulgarian midfielder Plamen Markov is the prime example: he was never number one star in Bulgaria and his former teammates in CSKA (Sofia) – Dimitrov and Slavkov – were much more famous. But the stars underperformed in St. Etienne and failed to adjust and lead the team into rebuilding. Unlike them, Markov quickly established himself in Metz, played well and usefully.
Monaco – 5th with 45 points. Typical Monaco, traditionally given to sudden ups and downs – coached by famous, but not quite at his Ajax’ level Stefan Kovacs and full with French national team players and foreign stars – Danes Lerby and Busk – Monaco should have been a title contender. Yet, it was Monaco and finished 5th.
Auxerre – 4th with 47 points. Already the club almost unknown before 1980 established itself as leading French team. Well, the genius of Guy Roux… the Polish connection remained (Zgutczynski now), quick and solid replacement of departing stars (Martini and Charbonnier instead of Bats between the goalposts), plenty of home-grown talent: Cantona and Basile Boli followed by Vignola.
Fantastic season for traditionally unheralded Toulouse – 3rd with 48 points. Standing from left: Bergeroo, Despeyroux, Hue, Bellus, Ruty, Marx, Oliver, Tarantini, Santini (coach).
First row: Delpech, Passi, Pavon, Tihy, Marcico, Castagnino, Stopyra, Assadourian, Garcia, Lestage.
One more testimony of the new crop of coaches, who were stars in the 1970s – Santini, formerly of the great St. Etienne team and the national team of France. Not a bad selection either – carefully made and in which the Argentines Tarantini (the 1978 World champion) and Marcico played key roles. The only question was how long will be the good spell.
Girondens de Bordeuax – plainly, Bordeaux – won its 4th title with 53 points from 20 wins, 13 ties, and 5 losses. 57-27 goal-difference. 4 points ahead of Marseille – confident dominance. Since this was not all, more a bit later.