Montpellier, the French Leicester City
The image of Montpellier owner Louis Nicollin celebrating at a McDonald's is a symbol of the club's humility in the face of the might of its main rival for the title in 2012, is an excellent example of what that team was like and who it was competing against. Many people know about what Leicester City's did when winning the Premier League, beating clubs with much greater financial backing on their way, but Montpellier's performance in 2012 is at least close to what the English team achieved.
History of Montpellier HSC
The club was originally formed in 1919 under the name Stade Olympique Montpellier by a group of famous people from the city who called themselves AGSM (Association Generale Sportive Montpellieraine), who intended to form a sports club to represent the city for a few years, however, this failed due to the First World War. Starting in several disciplines, not just football, the club was not competitive enough, so it decided to merge with the VGAL, a club that was purely a football entity and that allowed Montpellier to strengthen itself as a football club.The club's progressive growth was halted in 1925 when it was sanctioned by the French Football Federation for "abuse of financial power," which led to a ban and relegation to the lower divisions. The club recovered and by 1929 was already winning its first major title, the Coupe de France. In 1930, football became professional in France, and in 1932, the first edition of what is now known as Ligue 1 was played, with 20 founding clubs, including Montpellier. In 1935, the club had to be refounded to avoid extinction due to a debt of 370,000 francs.
The club suffered a couple of relegations and between the late 1960s and late 1980s, it hovered around the second and third tiers of France. In between, in 1970 and then in 1974, the club merged with Sport-Club Montpellierain and AS Paillade, respectively, to form Montpellier Herault Sport Club (the club's current full name). Hence, the club crest now bears the name 1974 instead of the club's original founding year. Since that same year, it has been owned by French businessman Laurent Nicollin.
The manager during their great achievment
As a player, René Girard was a defensive midfielder who played almost 18 years as a professional footballer, spending his entire career in two clubs: Nîmes, where he began and ended his career, and Girondins de Bordeaux, where he won three league titles and two Coupe de France titles. In the early 1980s, he made seven appearances for the French national team. Also as a manager he also began his career with Nîmes, where he spent three seasons, then had spells with Pau FC and Strasbourg, before joining the French Football Federation.He would remain there for six years, coaching the U-16, U-19, and U-21 national teams. In 2009, he was signed by Montpellier, a club that had just returned to Ligue 1. That first year they finished fifth in the league and qualified for the Europa League, although participating in four competitions the following season, something they did not have the resources for, meant they finished in 14th place.
Olivier Giroud was Montpellier's star player and top scorer
The fight against money
That 2011-12 season was special for French football for several reasons, one of them being that Qatari money arrived at Paris Saint-Germain, beginning a new era for the Parisian club that has long held them as one of the most powerful teams in Europe. That season, names such as Kevin Gameiro, Jeremy Menez, Diego Lugano, Alex, Thiago Motta, and Javier Pastore arrived at PSG, and they hired Carlo Ancelotti as manager midway through the season. On the other hand, Montpellier only made two signings, Henri Bedimo (the only one for whom they paid a transfer fee) and Vitorino Hilton.However, despite not having great financial power, Montpellier had a good generation of players coming through its own academy, such as Remy Cabella, Younes Belhanda, and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, all of whom went on to become international players for France, either in the national team or in the youth teams. These were joined by players with extensive experience at the elite level, such as John Utaka and the team's top scorer, Olivier Giroud. Girard had a solid, ego-free team, which allowed for greater commitment, especially in defensive duties.
This is demonstrated by the fact that they conceded the fewest goals in the league that season (tied with Toulouse) with only 34 goals in 38 matches, an average of less than one goal conceded per game. They were also the third-highest scoring team, behind only Lille (third in the league) and PSG (second), with 68 goals scored, 21 of which were scored by Giroud. In their first 16 Ligue 1 matches, Montpellier only lost two, one against Lyon and the other at home to PSG. On Matchday 24, they had their revenge against the Parisian club, this time at the Parc des Princes. They started 1-0 down but came back to take a 2-1 lead, although PSG equalized in the 88th minute with a goal from Hoarau.
The important thing about the match wasn't the result itself, but rather the team's attitude and competitiveness, which probably contributed greatly to their belief in the title. On Matchday 29, a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Saint-Etienne, with a goal from Giroud in the 89th minute, put Montpellier in first place, thanks to PSG's draw with Bordeaux. That day, when Girard's team took over first place, they never relinquished it again until the end of the season when they won the league title.
That Montpellier team managed to maintain a more or less stable starting eleven for the vast majority of the season and form a team that was difficult to beat, both for its defensive work and for how dangerous it became on the counterattack. These elements would also be something they shared with Leicester City, who would become Premier League champions a few years later, also in a very surprising way.