One thing about this season in France – the championship was very competitive, no outsiders or internal divisions. Some teams were no longer in great shape, but that made the league fairly equal. Except for one team, much better than any other and dominating without any trouble.
Mulhouse ended last with 28 points. Not a surprise really – newcomers often are unable to stay long in the top division. Mulhouse hardly had experienced, dependable players – only former national team goalkeeper Rey.
If Mulhouse was not a surprise, the team just above them was – Olympique Lyon managed 17th place only on better goal-difference. Lyon was hardly ever a title contender, but were normally solid, among the best in the league. Some terrible neglect was allowed at the end of the 1970s, the club missed the call for rebuilding, lost players, and now had only pathetic bunch of veterans, whose best days were long gone – Chiesa, Emon, Ferri. By now nobody even remembered that Topalovic was considered more reliable option than Schumacher in 1975-76. The only possible star was Domergue, but he was not at his prime yet and even if he was, he would be only one bright players in rapidly decaying squad. So, Lyon was going to play in the second division.
Tours was 18th with 31 points – one candidate for relegation, which fulfilled expectations and was relegated. Not without a fight, but still down. Delio Onnis still scored a lot of goals, but he was aging unfortunately. Better clubs were no longer interested in him and his goals did not help Tours at the end.
Bastia survived – they finished 17th with 32 points. Their brief successful ended with return to the normal – near the bottom of the table, concerned only with survival. However, they fatefully continued to depend on Yugoslavs – this season the former Crvena zvezda (Belgrade) player Borovnica captained them. Bastia had much bigger Yugoslav names before, but Borovnica still helped.
Rouen perhaps was happy with 16th place – they got it only because of better goal-difference, but relegation was avoided and practically that was all the club was concerned with.
Strasbourg ended 15th with 33 points. Not long ago they were champions… but it was one-time wonder really. The club was trying to keep some solid core, but unfortunately more and more depended on aging players beyond their peaks: Dropsy, Rouyer, Jodar, Lacuesta.
Now, that was a big surprise – St. Etienne finished 14th with 34 points. This came out of the blue, for St. Etienne was still expected to be a title contender – the squad was strong, as names go, and Herbin tried to reinforce it as well. But compared to the great squad of mid-70s, it was rather short team – back then there were about 15 national team players. Now there were 7. This season signaled the end of an era – Herbin seemingly was losing his touch, the team was tired. They stayed on top too long – more than 10 year – and after such a spell there is inevitable crisis.
Lille edged St. Etienne with better goal-difference and took 13th place. Rather normal season for Lille.
Sochaux – 12th with 35 points. Their usual position in the lower half of the table – yes, they had few good years recently, but they were exceptions to the rule.
Toulouse – 11th with 36 points. Also usual performance.
Modest Brest finished 10th with 37 points. A very good season by their measures. The Yugoslav striker Vabec was their beloved hero and he still delivered.
Metz also did well – 9th with 37 points. Seemingly, Kasperczak was becoming a good coach.
A bright news: Auxerre. Getting stronger every next year and climbing up. Of course, Guy Roux was the instrumental man of the team and his formula was unchanged: have always two reliable Polish stars. Szarmach was already an institution with the club, this year complimented by Janas. But quietly the Poles were getting surrounded by talented French players – Bats, Ferreri.
Nancy was quite amazing in beating the odds: after Platini left, it was expected they will quickly drop out of sight. Somewhere in second division and forgotten. They had no other stars. Yet, they managed well campaign after campaign and this year finished 7th with 41 points. Brave little club.
Monaco’s ups and downs were so frequent, that any place would have been accepted without any fuss. No title contenders, but not dropping low either – in fact, 6th place looked like testimony of newfound stability. Ralf Edstrom was in the team, which was also optimistic sign – the number of classy players, young and old, was getting larger. 43 points.
Fantastic season for Laval – one usually finds them at the bottom of the table, so 5th place and 44 points was big surprise. Credit to their coach Le Milinaire, for the team was pedestrian – even the Islandic import Thordarsson. Looked like one-time wonder, though.
Lens – like Monaco, traditionally unpredictable. Strong this year – 4th place with 44 points, ahead of Laval on goal-difference. However, there was hope that this vintage will stay among the best longer: Houllier was rapidly becoming rising coach, Vercruysse, Xuereb, Senac, Leclercq, and Islandic international Thordarsson were solid enough core to keep the team going.
Paris SG – 3rd with 47 points. Standing from left: Cees Kist, Pascal Zaremba, Jean-Marc Pilorget, Yannick Guillochon, Dominique Baratelli, Dominique Bathenay, Moustapha Dahleb.
First row: Nambatingue Toko, Philippe Col, Jean-Claude Lemoult, Luis Fernandez.
Frankly, more was expected of this vintage. Third place was not bad, but Paris SG, having arguably the strongest squad in France, was not at all title contender – they finished with 47 points. 11 less than the champions. Paris SG did not fulfill expectations so far and it looked like that something was fundamentally wrong with the policies of the club: they spent money, got famous players, and nothing. May be that was their fate… never to win. Never to be able to win.
Bordeaux, the most improving team in recent years, finished 2nd with 48 points. The team was practically made – Tresor, Bracci, Lacombe, Giresse, Tigana, Domenech, Specht, Girard, Thouvenel, and three West Germans – Dieter Muller, Caspar Memering, and Gernot Rohr. It was just not their moment yet.
Nantes dominated the league from start to finish, ending 10 points ahead of Bordeaux. No contest. 24 wins, 10 ties, 4 losses, 77-29 goal-difference, and 58 points. Highest scoring team, but Nantes was especially impressive in defense – they allowed only 29 goals; the second best record, Monaco’s, was 35. Wonderful work by coach Suaudeau, who managed to keep the team strong with careful small, but perfect, changes. At least on this picture, Nantes claimed the prize for the most bearded team in Europe – 14 players plus the coach. A very unusual fashion statement at that time. As for football, the squad was very experienced and full of talent – Bossis, Rio, Bertrand-Demanes, Bibard, Amisse, Tusseau, Ayashe, the Argentine, who played only in France from the start of his career, Oscar Muller, the Danish international Henrik Agerbeck, and the wonderful Yugoslav striker Vahid Halilhodzic. Nantes maintained leading position in French football since mid-1960s – a huge achievement of stability and testimony of strong work and great vision.