First Division. The ambitions of Bernard Tappie were big and fulfilled. His club would have been victorious even under the old 2-point system, although they were not dominant and prevailed over three rivals. In any case new era came in France.
Lens was the outsider this season – last with 17 points. Relegated.
Laval – 19th with 35 points. Twice more points than Lens, but relegated.
RC Strasbourg – 18th with 39 points. Worse goal-difference put them in the relegation zone – still, they were not directly going down and had a chance to survive. But Brest won the promotion/relegation play-off and Strasbourg sunk to Second Division.
Matra Racing (Paris) – 17th with 39 points. Escaped relegation zone only on better goal-difference. Frustrating season… a team coached by Jorge and having Francescoli, Fernandez, Bossis, Silooy, Guerin, Krimau, Anziani, Ginola, Olmeta should have been much higher in the table, if not a title contender. Yet, they were only fighting for survival… could be that the team was still new to First Division and not polished yet – after all, rebuilding started only a few years ago.
Caen – 16th with 40 points. For a modest, almost anonymous squad, the boys did rather well – escaped relegation.
Metz – 15th with 47 points. Low position, but they played much better than those bellow and not in danger of relegation.
St. Etienne – 14th with 48 points. Only Danish defender Sivebaek and goalkeeper Castaneda were familiar names in this squad. Herbin had hard time – current reality was so different than the 1970s and he was unable to build formidable team. Staying in the top league and hoping for brighter future was all.
Bordeaux – 13th with 49 points. Weak and alarming season – Bordeaux urgently needed rebuilding. Key stars aged dangerously – Tigana, Genghini, Dropsy. The team was strong on paper, but not in reality – it aged as team and if Jacquet did not do something fast, Bordeaux was in danger of following the terrible decline of Marseille, St. Etienne, Lyon witnessed in the 1980s.
Cannes – 12th with 50 points. Not bad for a team depending on cluster of aging stars. If anything, Cannes was a sign of the future: right now 3 foreigners was becoming the norm, but they had 4 – the Yugoslavs Vujovic, Savic, and Primorac, and the Dutch Poortvliet. They were the prime example of aging players, who kept Cannes in mid-table – rotations helped the old feet and the club.
Toulon – 11th with 50 points. One more modest team which did rather well.
Toulouse – 10th with 51 points. Only two stars – aged Rocheteau and Soviet defender Khidiatoulin. Seemingly, enough for mid-table.
Montpellier – 9th with 52 points. A team to keep in mind for the future: traditionally, Montpellier was nothing much, but now they had Carlos Valderrama, Brazilian national team defender Julio Cesar and few aging, but still dependable French stars – Bellone, Rust, Larios. Or, and Laurent Blanc of the emerging new talent.
Lille – 8th with 56 points. Belgian tainted – coached by Heylens and having Desmet and Vandenbergh on the field. Plus young French talent – Lama and Boli. If Lille was able to keep their French youngsters, may be a solid team could be arranged, but… it was difficult to keep great talent in smallish club.
Nantes – 7th with 57 points. Signs of decline were already detected and it was questionable whether measures to stop the downfall would work. On paper, it was not bad… Blazevic coaching Burruchaga, Mo Johnston, Desaille, Kombouare, Ayache, Rio, Amisse, Vercauteren, Ferri, Deschamps…
Better look at this starting 11: no Burruchaga and most of the old stars. Three names were only promising youngsters, they will be big stars later, in the 1990s. Not a title contender team…
Nice – 6th with 57 points. They were coming back after the decline? One may only hoping… judging by the squad, more likely a singular good season.
Auxerre – 5th with 63 points. Already established themselves among the top French teams and not going down at all. Highly talented team.
Sochaux – 4th with 68 points. The 1980s were their best decade. Apparently, the Yugoslavs were doing great job for the club – coach Takac and players Hadzibegic and Bazdarevic. Rather modest squad as a whole, so it was great that Sochaux was able to stay among the top French teams with ‘inferior’ players. Almost a miracle, for they were doing that for years already.
Monaco – 3rd with 68 points. Unable to win a second title in a row, but that was typical Monaco and not a big concern. Wenger was building reputation and may be his way to England, for he liked English players – Glen Hoddle and Mark Hateley were his choices.
Money is everything; money is nothing… Paris St. Germain was 2nd with 70 points. ‘As ever’, they had expensive squad. As ever, they failed to win the championship… perhaps, their failure is indicated best by their scoring record: only 45 goals in 38 games! That was all Susic, Calderon, Bibard, Xuereb, Couriol could do… a pity.
Olympique Marseille won the title with 73 points: 20 wins, 13 ties, 5 lost games, 56-35 goal-difference. It was not a easy victory – Marseille fought 3 other teams and managed to prevail. The plan for bringing back Marseille to success worked so far – hiring Michel Hidalgo to manage the team was very wise decision and produced results. Of course, money was not a problem, so the team very solid: Foerster, Allofs, Papin, Le Roux, Vercruysse, Cantona, Sauzee, Di Meco – German steel, famous stars, bright talented youngsters, excellent mix. The squad was not perfect yet, but had motivation and if anything, it was not weaker than Paris SG and Monaco and much stronger than Sochaux. Money was decisive factor in beating Auxerre: Cantona went to Marseille and there was no question something similar to happen in the opposite direction. For Marseille the season was fantastic: they won the title for the first time since 1971-72, they were back on top after so many years of decline and humiliation – and seemingly were going to stay on top in the future.
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