Montpellier HSC : Rise and Shine? Or Rise and Fall?

Montpellier HSC : Rise and Shine? Or Rise and Fall?

Montpellier HSC: A name which wasn't really famous in the global football community until recently. And if you’re still wondering, they are the French Ligue 1 Champions of the 2011/12 season and you really need to wake up.
[Trivial : Montpellier is pronounced as "Moh-peh-lyay" in French. They are the French Champions, the least you can do is pronounce their name right]

The Struggle

Montpellier, one of the founding members of the French first division, unfortunately never tasted as much success as fellow founding members Marseille, Sochaux and Nice did. Legendary players such as Laurent Blanc, Roger Milla and Eric Cantona(loan) have donned the blue and orange colours of Montpellier HSC. 

 We’re not going to look into the history of the club in depth. Though Montpellier HSC were a side who regularly struggled up and down the French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, we shall only look at their struggles in the past 15 seasons briefly. 

They started struggling in the late 90s to stay in the first division and eventually were relegated in the 1999/2000 season. They were strong enough to quickly secure promotion to the First division in the next season itself but found themselves at the bottom of the table again after a couple of seasons in the top flight. Finishing hindmost in the 03/04 season proved to be a tough blow to the club's confidence and the coming years had a lot of struggles and disappointments in store for them. They began descending down the Ligue 2 standings and under their manager of that time, Jean-Francois Domergue, the club was staring at possible relegation from Ligue 2 during the final stages of the 06/07 season. Citing the possibility of relegation, the club parted ways with Domergue and Rolland Courbis was deputed to bring the club back on track. They finished the 06/07 season in 15th position and the club was in for a busy summer. With a total of 15 departures, 5 new arrivals and 3 players injected into the senior squad from the "B" squad, Montpellier climbed up the Ligue 2 standings and finished 8th on the table after the 07/08 season. Manager Rolland Courbis still wasn't happy with his team and this entailed another hectic summer at the club. With more than 10 arrivals and 10 departures, the club's target was nothing but promotion to Ligue 1. The club started off slowly but steadily climbed up the standings and after securing 16 points in the last 6 games of the season, they finished 2nd in the 08/09 season and secured promotion to the top flight. 

René Girard : The beginning of good things to come

Montpellier Coach René Girard.

Coach Rolland Courbis was sacked by the club's management even after he led the club to a successful campaign and secured promotion to the top flight. Former Bordeaux player and France U21 Coach, René Girard was appointed as the manager of Montpellier HSC. Girard made a few changes to the squad, signing Romain Pitau, Cyril Jeunechamp, Geoffrey Dernis and Garry Bocaly who are still an integral part of the club. Young starlets Rémy Cabella and Younès Belhanda were promoted to the first team from the Montpellier B team. This team worked wonders for Montpellier HSC and Girard as they finished 5th in the 2009/10 Ligue 1 season, just 2 points away from a Champions League spot. 

After this wonderful season, Víctor Montaño and Tino Costa, two key figures in the Montpellier squad departed for Rennes and Valencia respectively. Girard looked to fill this void by securing the signature of two strikers, John Utaka and Olivier Giroud and a midfielder Marco Estrada. Montpellier broke their transfer record to sign Olivier Giroud for £1.7m. Inspite of Girard's efforts to find replacements for Montano and Costa, Montpellier didn't enjoy a successful campaign and finished 14th, just 3 points above the drop zone. 

The Dream Season.

Girard showed faith in his attackers and signed defenders Henri Bedimo and Brazilian Vitorino Hilton to beef up his back line for the upcoming 2011/12 season, while Rémy Cabella returned from his loan spell. 

The season started of very well for HSC Montpellier with 3 straight victories against AJ Auxerre, defending champions OSC Lille and Rennes, only to succumb to a 2-1 defeat against French giants Olympique Lyon. They still remained at the top of the table and secured 7 points in the next 3 games. Their 8th game of the season against PSG was a forgettable one as they lost 3 : 0 in front of their supporters. The entire season was a fairy-tale for the supporters, players and staff of Montpellier HSC, as the club fighted it out for the title against the big-spending Paris Saint-Germain(PSG) till the final game of  the season.


The most decisive games of the season proved to be the ones contested on the 29th and 30th match-days with PSG being held by Bordeaux and then suffering defeat against FC Nancy-Lorraine. Montpellier took advantage of these results and went top of the table after wins against AS Saint-Etienne and Olympique Marseille. Montpellier managed to hold on to their lead at the top of the table and finally won their first ever Ligue 1 title after beating AJ Auxerre in the final game of the season, a game marred by Auxerre supporters venting out their frustration at the club's relegation in the form of tennis balls and toilet paper. The game was halted abruptly twice due to trouble cause by the home crowd. Montpellier went a goal down early in the first half but former Portsmouth player John Utaka equalized to get them back on track. It was Utaka again, who scored the championship-winning goal with 14 minutes to go.

They defied '80/1' odds to be crowned Champions of France, ahead of Carlo Ancelotti's PSG. Nobody saw it coming at the start of the season, but Montpellier left every one stunned at the end of it all.

Bright Future? 


So what lies ahead for the French Champions? Is this just the beginning of a glorious run, or just a one-season wonder? 
Rene Girard : "I think our triumph is a real shot in the arm for French football. It just goes to show that everyone can beat everyone and that money isn't the be-all and end-all". 
Is it really enough to change the way money has been dictating Football recently? Can low-budget clubs like Montpellier rise up to compete against big-spending clubs like PSG, Manchester City, Chelsea, etc? Just to give you an idea of the budget comparison, let me throw these statistics in here :

PSG Transfer revenue(income): 9.064.000 £ - Transfer expenditures: 93.36.8000 £ = -84.304.000 £

Montpellier HSC Transfer revenue:  1.760.000 £ - Transfer expenditures: 1.760.000 £ = 0 

Montpellier operate on an annual budget of 29.000.000£, while PSG spent a hefty sum of 36.960.000£ just

to secure the services of  Argentine sensation Javier Pastore from Palermo.

[source : http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk]

Olivier Giroud(left) celebrates with Younès Belhanda.

With their top players, Olivier Giroud and Younès Belhanda being chased by other top clubs, Montpellier's future could spell trouble if they don't hold on to their key players. To be honest, they can't compete against the clubs interested when it comes to money. Belief, that they can beat top clubs and enjoy continued success might have set in to the minds of Montpellier's stars, but is it enough to withstand the lure of money and glamour? One might blame the players if they leave for monetary gains, but is it really their fault? With players who have achieved much lesser at "big" clubs earning a fortune, even these stars might want to move to richer clubs and one can only blame the current situation that has been created by the likes of Manchester City, PSG, Chelsea, Real Madrid, etc. 

With the UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations about set in, things are looking bright for clubs like Montpellier. Clubs which operate on a sustainable business model can breathe easy while big-spending clubs with big debts have a lot to be worried about. Montpellier have set a perfect example of what football should be all about. Rene Girard has inculcated a very strong team chemistry, attacking mentality and a positive attitude in the squad, and it has proven to be the key to their success. 

Whether or not Montpellier will forge ahead to taste further glory remains to be seen, but they certainly have become an inspiration to all the teams across Europe who run on a modest budget. A club which struggled to get promoted to the top flight merely three seasons ago, going on to win their maiden first division title, without any extravagant spending, but purely on the basis of hard work and team chemistry. Who said fairy tales don't come true?