Group B. If one team shined unchallenged in Group A, the big drama was here – goal-difference decided the champion!
Lorient was last and relegated with 23 points.
Melun Entente 77 beat Lorient on goal-difference, but still going down – 17th with 23 points.
Saint Dizier – 16th with 25 points and relegated.
La Roche sur Yon – 15th with 26 points. Escaped relegation by a point.
Stade Quimperois – 14th with 29 points. The eternal mystery of writing club names in France… sometimes full names, sometimes only the familiar city name, but in the same source one club could be written with full name and another with just the city name.
Beauvais – 13th with 31 points.
En Avant Guingamp – 12th with 31 points. Here it is again… Guingamp in the magazine introducing the teams, En Avant Guingamp in the statistical records.
Abbeville – 11th with 31 points.
Stade Rennais – 10th with 32 points. Two well known former players at the helm (Rampillon and Keruzore), the Hungarian Garaba, with 2 World Cups behind him, Cantona… and nothing. Cantona? He was also listed and pictured in his original club, Auxerre, this season. If anything, it shows the difficulties he had in his native France – a misfit of a kind.
Valenciennes – 9th with 33 points. They were no strangers to second tier football, but First Division was more of their place for years – so, a bit of speculation: in the past they had steady string of Polish players. No Poles now… and no good at all.
Dunkerque – 8th with 34 points. Like Nimes in Group A, they finished with goal-difference of 0: 34-34.
Stade Reims – 7th with 35 points. May be only one thing to note: Carlos Bianchi was coaching – still far away from fame as a coach, still largely remembered as a great goal-scorer.
Angers – 6th with 38 points. Let say they had better seasons.
Nancy – 5th with 38 points. Rather sad to see the club which gave to the world Michel Platini that low, but it was always a modest club.
Rouen – 4th with 40 points. Modest as ever. If anything, just an example of increasing export from Eastern Europe – the Czechoslovak Jarolim here. Well respected at home, but not well known abroad – by now even second raters were exported, that’s the point.
Mulhouse – 3rd with 45 points. Strong season, a team certainly improving and going up, but eventually dropped out of the promotion race. Well, the future was theirs to take.
Caen lost dramatic race for top position – they finished with 49 points and almost identical record with their rivals. Only scored 2 less goals… and that meant losing the championship and direct promotion. But there was another chance – the play-off against the 18th in the First Division. That chance Caen did not miss and still got promoted after winning against Chamois Niortais. However, the dramatic battle for first place is worth showing in numbers: 20 wins, 9 ties, 5 losses, 54-22. Now see the record of the winners.
Racing Club Strasbourg prevailed: 20 wins, 9 ties, 5 losses, 56-22, 49 points. Just 2 goals made the final difference and Strasbourg clinched the 1st place of the Group B championship and direct promotion to top flight. Not an easy victory, but still a return to their familiar First Division was achieved and that was all that mattered. As for the future… hard to say. Like many other clubs, Strasbourg had young coaches, who used to be famous players – Kasperczak and Gemmrich – but the squad was rather anonymous. The veteran Leonard Specht was hardly a player for the future and he was practically the only recognizable name in the squad. Looks like quick recruitment of solid guys was in order… or may be not. Anyway, the next season will tell.