It’s the hot topic in England. The Gallagher brothers, who have been estranged for 15 years, have reconciled, and Oasis announced their big comeback this week. Which led the betting site Paddy Power to this teasing post: “Between Oasis splitting and reforming, Watford have had 19 managers, Luis Suarez has bitten 3 people, Chelsea have signed nearly 200 players, Manchester City have racked up 115 charges of financial fair play fraud, VAR was introduced and Tottenham have still not won anything.”
The same observation can be made about French football. In August 2009, at the time of the “clash” between the members of Oasis (it was in France, at Rock en Seine), Ligue 1 looked like something completely different. The season began with clubs that have since disappeared from the elite, such as Le Mans, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Grenoble, Valenciennes and Nancy. But the most brutal descent into hell was that of the Girondins de Bordeaux, who were reigning French champions at the time (with Yoann Gourcuff elected player of the year).
Auxerre in the Champions League, PSG 13th
In this season that was beginning, Olympique de Marseille will finish as French champions, while AJ Auxerre will seek a third place synonymous with the Champions League, and a reception of Real Madrid of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo at the Abbé-Deschamps the following season. But between 2009 and 2024, the most spectacular transformation is obviously that of Paris Saint-Germain, which changed dimension with its acquisition by Qatar in 2011. This 2009-2010 season, PSG will finish in 13th place, with all the same a victory in the Coupe de France against Monaco. At the time, the capital club only had two French championship titles, like Sochaux and Sète. It now has 12.
And what about the French team in all this? It only had one star on its jersey, and Raymond Domenech was still the coach. A year before Knysna, the boss of the Blues had just unveiled a list with an attacking line composed of Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Thierry Henry (Barcelona), André-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse) and Loïc Rémy (Nice).
