Led by former OM coach Albert Emon, who succeeded Alex Dupont on December 17 last year, the Corsican outfit secured their spot in Ligue 1 next season, but left it until the very last game. Marred by poor results on the pitch and crowd trouble off it, l’ACA relied on some brilliant individual performances to rescue the Corsican club.
With the third-lowest budget going into the season (€21m, just a million above neighbours Bastia and Troyes), the Corsican outfit spent thirty-six of the league’s thirty-eight weeks in the bottom half of the table, but managing to never fall in the relegation zone which they only avoided by two points in the end. Those two points could symbolically be the two they earned in consecutive draws home and away against top dogs PSG, with a budget fifteen times their own, making Ajaccio the only club alongside Saint-Etienne which the Parisians failed to beat at least once this season.
You could take your pick to assess which two points goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa saved this season after a string of outstanding performances allowed Ajaccio to be the second-best defence of Ligue 1′s bottom half, despite a goalscoring fest in Lorient back in October which, with a final scoreline of 4-4, ended up being the game with most goals scored this season in Ligue 1. The Mexico international, Ballon d’Or nominee in 2007, was the club’s star performer this season and has pledged to stay on the Corsican island next season, which is the greatest news the club could possibly receive over the summer.
Although he failed to rise to his pre-season challenge to topple Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the goalscoring ranking, former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu boasted the respectable tally of 11 goals, playing an integral part in the club’s staying in Ligue 1.
Finally, Bordeaux-formed midfielder Paul Lasne (24) was the fulcrum holding the Ajaccio collective together against the more robust sides of the country, especially blooming in the latter stages of the season.
Known for the combativeness of their troops on their home turf, the Corsicans could have made matters easier for themselves if they had not been deducted two points before the season began$ for the behavior of their aggravated home crowd against Lyon last May. Another controversy surrounded their derby against Bastia in March, which ended in an on-pitch fight between both sets of players, staff and fans in the stands.
The Corsican outfit now look up to their third straight season in the French elite with a new manager at their helm, another OM alumnus, Fabrizio Ravanelli. This is quite a career leap for the former Italy international who had thus far been in charge of Juventus’ Giovanisimi Regionali, the club’s U14 youth team. Ravanelli brings with him the very strict Giampero Vientrone, formerly a staff member of Lippi’s CL-winning Juventus and World Cup-winning Italy sides, who will attempt to instill more physicality in the squad to match their arch-rivals Bastia north of the the Corsican island.
Bastia stole Ajaccio’s place as the best club in Corsica and the fans will hope that Ravanelli’s first job will be to close the five place gap from SCB and hopefully play more attacking football at the Stade Francois Coty.
FINAL POSITION: 17th
Review by @Mladenovic_