With the first part of the wonderkid factory coming out yesterday, we're starting another series today about some of the most unexpected trophy wins in football history.
The first team we'll be looking at is the Montpellier side that clinched a shock Ligue 1 title in 2012. The squad was filled with a few household names and other players who went on to write their name in the history books.
The previous season, La Paillade had finished just 14th and nobody was expecting them to ruffle any feathers. Paris Saint Germain had recently had their Qatari takeover and spent nearly £100 million on transfers that summer bringing in the likes of
Javier Pastore,
Thiago Motta,
Jeremy Menez,
Blaise Matuidi and
Kevin Gameiro. Montpellier on the other hand, had a net spend of exactly nothing bringing in a few players on free transfers and signing Henri Bedimo for £1.8 million.
The French side managed by Rene Girard, started the season brilliantly only losing 2 of their first 16 league matches which were against Lyon and title favourites PSG. However, from the 19th to 28th matchday they only topped the table during one of those weeks, losing to two mid table sides in Evian and Nancy.
Throughout the next nine games though they were almost perfect only having one surprise loss to relegation candidates Lorient. By the time it came to the final day, La Paillade only needed a point away at Auxerre to beat PSG to the title who were playing Lorient. It didn't start so well though with Auxerre taking the lead through
Olivier Kapo after just 20 minutes. The game was stopped a number of times for crowd violence but ultimately a
John Utaka brace clinched a 2-1 and the title for Montpellier.
Olivier Giroud was the star of the team during the campaign scoring a league best 21 goals and setting up 9 more. The squad also contained
Younes Belhanda,
Benjamin Stambouli,
Remy Cabella and
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa who captained the side.
Within two years though, the team had been thoroughly pillaged and the majority of the spine had left for greener pastures. Giroud was snapped up by Arsenal in the summer of 2012 for around £11 million and they lost their captain Yanga-Mbiwa to Newcastle in the January window of 2013 for £7.2 million. By the beginning of the 2014/15 season, Belhanda had moved to Dynamo Kyiv for £9 million, Bedimo had moved to Lyon, Utaka joined Sivasspor and Stambouli and Cabella made big moves to the Premier League joining Tottenham and Newcastle respectively. Giroud was the only real mainstay in the Premier League, winning multiple FA Cups with Arsenal and a Champions League and Europa League with Chelsea.
Montpellier themselves, have never been able to reach the same heights since 2012. Their highest league finish in the last 9 years was 6th in 2018/19 but they have mostly only been a mid table team. Only an excellent AS Monaco side and last years LOSC Lille team have managed to topple PSG in the league since then so La Pallaide will still be remembered for that momentous achievement.
