Latest news with #LaPaillade
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
The Leicester of Ligue 1: Remembering Montpellier's famous title triumph on the eve of their relegation
Everyone knows the story of Leicester City. On the brink of Premier League relegation one season, to Champions of England the next. It's the footballing fairytale of our time. Leicester's miraculous triumph of 2015/16 felt unheard of, like nothing of the sort had ever happened before. But indeed, it had. Across the channel, an ever-unlikely champion had risen to the French throne just four years earlier. Montpellier were the pre-gen of Claudio Rainieri's famed Foxes. Powered by breakout star Olivier Giroud, this humble family-run side from southern France warded off the biggest of hitters to reign over France. Two of the greatest underdog stories in the game's history, both now share the ignominy of a stark fall from grace. While Leicester have suffered their second relegation in the space of three seasons, the Ligue 1 final matchday marks a first demotion for Montpellier since their crowning glory of 13 years ago. Drifting into obscurity, broke and divided, La Paillade will seek comfort from the memories of their unfathomable title win, knowing that while a return to the upper echelons may now seem a pipedream, they've defied worse odds before. Ahead of the 2011/12 campaign, Ligue 1 had been rocked by the news of Paris-Saint Germain's takeover by Qatar Sports Investment (QSI). Turning into an uber-wealthy European powerhouse almost overnight, it became inevitable that the division would come under a chokehold of the Parisiens. But despite embarking on a summer of intense spending under Carlo Ancelotti, the Qataris would not enjoy title success in their first season. They were tripped up in that pursuit not by defending champions Lille, or French giants Marseille or Lyon – but by Montpelllier. Led by Rene Girard, La Paillade stunned the footballing world. Three seasons prior, they were fighting for promotion in the second tier. But with a team of hidden gems valued at a fraction of their competitors, Montpellier pulled off the unthinkable to top Ligue 1 for the first time in their history. From the outset, they were the surprise package of the 2011/12 season. Five wins in their first seven saw them record their best-ever start to a Ligue 1 season. But at the back-end of September, having briefly sat atop the table, they were sharply brought back to reality. PSG dismantled Montpellier 3-0 on their own turf to showcase what everyone already assumed was the gulf in quality between the two sides. Yet despite this setback, Montpellier kept up the pace going into the winter break. This was in significant part due to Giroud, an all but unknown entity at the start of the year. The Mosson talisman, who had signed from Montpellier in 2010 for what was then a club-record fee of €2m (£1.7m), was taking France by storm. The 25-year-old may have been something of a late bloomer, but with 18 goal contributions in as many appearances, he had put European football on notice as the rocket fuel behind Montpellier's shock title charge. By the end of the winter break, Montpellier had reeled the Parisians in. Fans began to truly believe when Girard's men passed their toughest test, a trip to the Parc des Princes in February. Against the financial muscle of the division, Montpellier held PSG to a 2-2 draw to ensure they stayed within touching distance of the leaders, setting them up for the near-flawless season run-in that was to come. Just two losses in their final 14 outings saw Montpellier leapfrog their title rivals going into the final weeks, with everything coming down to the final day in Auxerre. Three points ahead of PSG at the top but on an identical goal difference, La Paillade needed just a point to make history. A double from ex-Pompey frontman John Utaka put the outcome beyond doubt as Montpellier came out 2-1 victors. They had done the impossible. Giroud, branded 'Le Buteur de Charme' – or 'The Charm Striker' – was the posterboy of Girard's champions. He finished the season as the league's joint-top goalscorer with 21 goals, solely responsible for 13 of the club's points that year, with his tireless, all-action performances earning the attention of Premier League giants Arsenal and a France call-up for Euro 2012. However, Montpellier were hardly a one-man team. Pulling the strings behind the Frenchman were two homegrown midfield maestros. The first, Moroccan magician Younes Belhanda, was one of the stars of the season. Once a holding player in the academy, the versatile Belhanda was shifted to a playmaker by Girard for 2011/12, a move that paid dividends as he notched 12 goals and four assists across a highly influential campaign. The second was Remy Cabella, another academy product who burst onto the scene that season. Then 21, the promising Frenchman, who would later be picked up by Newcastle, was a one of a handful of young talents to earn continental recognition at Montpellier during 2011/12. Cabella, just like Giroud, Belhanda and Mosson-bred defensive midfield starlet Benjamin Stambouli, was quickly touted for bigger things following Montpellier's shock title triumph. Giroud, rightly seeing his name in lights, jumped at Arsenal's advances that summer to embark on what would be a fruitful nine-year spell in the English top tier. But local lads Cabella, Belhanda and Stambouli stayed put to try and cement Montpellier's status as a top contender. In this effort, they failed. Montpellier's title defence resulted in a ninth-place finish in 2012/13, before dropping to 15th the following year. Rapidly falling off their perch, this period was enough to see their homegrown midfield trio abandon the project for pastures new. Belhanda had moved to Dynamo Kyiv, Stambouli to Spurs, and Cabella to the Magpies – all transfers of which proved pretty ill-fated. Montpellier's downfall was sparked by a failure to build on their shock success. They lost their star players and did not adequately replace. They also threw in the towel on coach Rene Girard just a year after he led La Paillade to uncomprehensible heights, with founding club president Louis 'LouLou' Nicollin not offering him a new contract at the end of 2012/13. The club never consolidated their newfound identity as winners and over the 13 years that followed, they never broke the top five again. This failure to live up to potential was reflected by the careers of their title-winning squad, many of whom – with the exception of Giroud – didn't come close to the heights once pegged for them. Having floated back into mediocrity, the past season has seen Montpellier crumble at a time of degradation in French football. Now under the ownership of Laurent Nicollin, who took over from father LouLou following his 2017 passing, the club have been hit hard by the financial crisis that has Ligue 1 on the brink of collapse. Last year's accounts showed the wage bill as almost equivalent to the club's entire income. Fiscal struggles, combined with dismal performances, have incited widespread disunity in the club. Players, fans and leadership have turned on each other. During a meeting with Monaco, supporters unfurled a banner that told the team: 'You embody the worst version of our club: shame on you.' A month earlier, long-time skipper Teji Savanier besmirched his reputation after responding to an embarrassing Coupe de France thrashing to fourth-tier Le Puy by flaunting his eye-watering wage. When a Le Puy fan teased the midfielder by asking if sitting rock bottom of Ligue 1 hurt, Savanier responded: 'When you're being paid €210,000 a month, no.' He was stripped of the captaincy after being condemned by the club. And while fans have also taken issue with the hierarchy, Nicollin has pointed his finger at his squad. 'There are people whose story with the club is over, whatever happens,' he said after defeat to Angers in April. 'We will go forward with a healthy base of people who want to fight for the club and people who aren't just there for their own sake.' Montpellier, a club whose success 13 years ago was built off a unified effort to overcome the odds, are now embroiled in an internal war. A shadow of their former selves, Montpellier now face the serious threat of ending up like Bordeaux - a former giant now dwindling in the fourth tier after suffering a drawn-out demise. While there will be hope of a rebuild in the second division, weak foundations in the French football system may not facilitate it. Long gone are the dreams of established success in France. The objective is now to avoid becoming the nation's next footballing cautionary tale.
The Guardian
28-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Angry, broke and now relegated: Montpellier are at war with themselves
Montpellier are one of only three clubs to have denied PSG the Ligue 1 title since the takeover over a decade ago, but in the time that has elapsed since their 2012 triumph, the club has drifted into a state of dereliction and destitution. Their relegation from Ligue 1 confirmed, La Paillade exit the stage with a whimper; it may be a while before they grace it once more. Montpellier are a family club. Louis 'LouLou' Nicollin is the founding president of the club, and upon his death in 2017, ownership passed to his son, Laurent. LouLou who died aged 74, continues to be honoured in the 74th minute of every home match by the Montpellier fans, but there was a mixture of applause and boos at Sunday's commemoration. Families don't always get along and relationships have buckled under the strain of the most devastating season in the club's 50-year history. Disunity reigns at the Mosson. The 74th minute of the dour 0-0 draw against Reims on Sunday – which halted MHSC's 11-game losing run and constituted their first clean sheet of the season – coincided with Téji Savanier coming off the bench. Savanier is an enfant du club, having come through Montpellier's academy before returning in 2019. He is the emblematic and humble captain; a player who lives in the same neighbourhood he grew up in, despite his riches; who holidays in a campsite on the outskirts of town; who rejected the chance to go to Milan in favour of La Paillade; and whose love for the club and the city could never be questioned, or at least not until recently. The defeat to fourth-tier side Le Puy in the Coupe de France was embarrassing in itself, but it will be remembered more as a moment that sullied Savanier's image. 'Last in Ligue 1 – does that hurt?' teased a Le Puy fan in a viral video posted on social media. 'When you're being paid €210,000 a month, no,' responded Savanier, who was condemned by the club and stripped of the captaincy. Relegated to a bit-part role, statistically, this has been his worst season, and it will be his last, too. The experienced spine of the Montpellier team will be dismantled. It isn't just Savanier that the club are looking to offload – the likes of Wahbi Khazri, Benjamin Lecomte, Jordan Ferri, and Falaye Sacko are also touted for departures. Andy Delort was also parachuted back to the club on loan in January with the mission of saving MHSC from the drop. He is yet to score a goal and hasn't even been included in the last two matchday squads. Many of the aforementioned stalwarts have already seen their game time decrease in recent weeks, since the arrival of Zoumana Camara as manager. The former PSG youth coach replaced an exhausted Jean-Louis Gasset earlier this month. 'Maybe I'm a football has-been,' said the veteran manager, who had replaced Michel Der Zakarian earlier in the campaign. The returning club legend never looked like saving the sinking ship, and he rarely struck an optimistic tone. 'It's over' and 'we have to stop believing' are the pick of Gasset's quotes that best surmise the acceptance of fate. If words aren't enough, the club's decision to sell their starting attacking trio – Akor Adams, Musa al-Taamari and Arnaud Nordin – in January paints the picture clearly. Sporting ambition left the room quite a long time ago. Gasset remains at the club, albeit now in a backroom role, and he was the man who elected Camara as his successor. The new man has been looking to the future, affording game time to young players and academy products. However, along with the experienced spine, the best and brightest – the likes of Joris Chotard, Khalil Fayad, and Becir Omeragic – will also be forced out in a desperate bid to raise funds. Last year's accounts showed that Montpellier's wage bill was almost equivalent to the club's entire income. The financial crisis gripping French football more generally, which could be further exacerbated by the uncertainty surrounding the continuation of DAZN's broadcasting deal, has hit Montpellier particularly hard. The finger has naturally been pointed at Nicollin, who did not help matters with his vociferous support of LFP president and close friend Vincent Labrune, the architect of that botched broadcasting deal last summer. But there are plenty of fingers to be pointed. 'At some point, we will have to stop laughing. There are people whose story with the club is over, whatever happens. We will go forward with a healthy base of people who want to fight for the club and people who aren't just there for their own sake. I've spoken and spoken, the people that this concerns will understand,' said Nicollin after last weekend's defeat to Angers. Those comments shocked an emotional Ferri, who cut short his post-match interview. 'If our president said that, I don't have a lot to say. I don't even want to speak more than that,' he said. The president has turned on his players, and the fans have turned on the club. With relegation confirmed prior to Montpellier's match against Reims thanks to Le Havre's draw against Monaco, the Mosson was sparsely populated; at times, you could hear a pin drop, the atmosphere not aided by the closure of the ultras stand after violent scenes led to the abandonment of the match against Saint-Étienne in March. There was anger then, there is a feeling of ambivalent resignation now. Those who were present for the non-event against Reims, who booed the entrances of Khazri and Savanier, evidenced a dire state of affairs. Montpellier are a club at war with themselves, but one that, despite relegation, are trying to right their wrongs and look to the future. The future is uncertain though, and the fear of a Bordeaux 2.0 lingers. Montpellier's 50th anniversary 'celebrations' this season have been anything but. At. their lowest ebb, the objective must simply be to survive for another 50. Marseille 4-1 Brest, Lens 0-4 Auxerre, Montpellier 0-0 Reims, Nantes 0-0 Toulouse, Angers 0-2 Lille, Lyon 4-1 Rennes, Le Havre 1-1 Monaco, Strasbourg 3-1 St-Étienne, PSG 1-3 Nice. 'We have this obsession with the Champions League,' admitted Luis Enrique ahead of PSG's meeting with Nice on Friday. That obsession has also become a distraction. Nuno Mendes insisted that PSG were 'always thinking about' completing an invincible season, however, their focus was clearly elsewhere and specifically on the match against Arsenal on Tuesday. Les Aiglons were ruthlessly efficient, taking their three big chances and romping away 3-1 winners. What was worrying from a PSG perspective was how one of the goals was conceded. Youssouf Ndayishimiye's game-clinching third came from a free-kick and 38% of all the goals conceded by Les Parisiens have now come from set pieces. Their weakness is Arsenal's strength and one that the Gunners will be hopeful of exploiting. 'Records aren't our primary goal, titles are … if someone assured me that losing to Nice would get me into the Champions League final, I'd sign up immediately,' said Luis Enrique last week. Domestic invincibility has been sacrificed; time will tell if it yields European glory. The race for the Champions League remains enthralling. Amine Gouiri's spectacular hat-trick helped Marseille comfortably beat Brest to cap a week that marked the start of a multi-week training camp in Rome – an unprecedented move to distance the club from what is perceived as a toxic atmosphere in their native city. They leapfrog Monaco, who went into the gameweek second but finish fourth after a draw against Le Havre, while wins for Lyon, Nice, and Strasbourg mean there are just four points separating second from seventh.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jean-Louis Gasset slams Montpellier players' attitudes
Montpellier HSC find themselves in a precarious situation both on and off the pitch. La Paillade are currently rock bottom of Ligue 1 with 11 games remaining. As things stand, they are favourites for the drop to Ligue 2. Meanwhile, off the pitch, there are financial issues to contend with. This week, in a letter to France's top investment banks, owner Laurent Nicollin put out a call for investment into the club, stating that he was even ready to renounce his position as majority shareholder of the family-owned club. As Montpellier prepare to host Stade Rennais on Sunday, the club are in dire straits and are badly in need of a change of fortune to get themselves out of their current predicament. That is the revival that Jean-Louis Gasset, who replaced Michel Der Zakarian earlier this season, is trying to spark. In his pre-match press conference, he ripped into his squad, questioning their desire. 'We have to revolt having lost four matches in a row and playing for the club's future. We have to be aware at some point that it isn't enough […] I get the impression that not everyone is giving everything. I feel as if they are receiving but that they aren't giving a lot so at some point, they will have to understand,' said Gasset. Time will tell whether his public criticism will garner the desired response. GFFN | Luke Entwistle
