Olympique Lyonnais Cafe

Re: Olympique Lyonnaise Cafe

Oh well, here you go - hope this helps your little thread.

History:

When you think of Lyon and their recent dominance in the world of French soccer, you would be hugely surprised by their relative and minimal historical success. A team with only 3 title wins all achieved in the 21st century, goes some way to trying to unravel one of France’s greatest teams of this decade.

In 1917/18, lodged in the Rhône and Saône valleys, the Coupe de France took place, all be it a smaller regionalised version that had only 48 teams contesting it. But it was that year that a little known team from the southern alps region would go onto to reach the final of the competition. They were FC Lyon and were the forerunner of Lyonnais domestic football for years to come. Sadly a 3-0 loss in the final to Olympique de Pantin did nothing to perturb their ambitions.

In 1933, Jean Mazier, founder of the famous club, aimed to reach professional status with the team - a favourable move across the whole of the region. However Mazier was also running another club in the area, namely AS Villeurbanne. That season, ASV were to plummet into financial ruin, so it was a decision taken that FC Lyon and the remnants of ASV were to merge for the 1935/36 season as the newly formed - Lyon Olympique de Villeurbanne. Sadly without any money and the threat of occupation and subsequent war in France, the club remained dormant for several years.

It was the arrival of Felix Louot however that took over the reins and ambitions of Mazier, to try and turn the Lyon club into an ambitious and professional set-up. Champion of the Southern Regional league in 1945 and quarter finalist of the cup in the same year, little by little Louot’s plan coming in place.

It was a few a years later that the club embarked on a name change and it was invented by the famed surgeon Albert Trillat. He proposed that the club wore the colours of Lyon - red and blue, as well as adopting the name that encapsulates the entire town - Olympique Lyonnais.

In 1950/51 as the newly named team, under the guidance of coach Oscar Heisserer and president Grosvelin, l’OL, looked to set their sights on promotion to the top-flight. The historic first ever game came on the 29th of August as Lyon beat CA Paris 3-0, in front of 3000. That season, they would go on to win the 2nd division title and clinch promotion to the 1st.

Sadly their first season in the top-flight was soured. An inexperienced squad was just not good enough and to remain in the 1st division and were sent back down from where they came. They waited another two years to regain their top-flight status after another 2nd division championship win in 1954.

Their stay here would be much longer than their first trip, with a continued presence of 25 years. In 1963, Lucien Jasseron, the then coach of le Havre, understood the importance of playing well in the Cup. Something which eh had managed at 2nd division HAC. Now as Lyon coach, he set his sights on this too. And indeed it paid off, with l’OL reaching the final that year against Monaco. After a 0-0 in the first match, they couldn’t seem to break the Principality side down and slumped to a 2-0 loss in the replay. Their first ever cup final, ending in defeat.

All would not have seem lost, the following year, as Lyon reached their second successive Cup final in 1964. This time it was against Bordeaux, going as slight marginal favourites, Lyon put to bed the demons of a year before to win an emotional first ever French cup. This time 2-0 on the right side of the score-line for Les Gônes. It was also the year that Lyon embarked on Europe from last years cup final appearance (Monaco since claiming an European cup place after their league and cup double that year.) Lyon were to excel in European competition, reaching the semi-finals and knocking out Odense, Olympiakos and Hamburg. They were only halted at the last hurdle by a bullish and effective Sporting Lisbon side.

The following year after the departure of their leading man, Nestor to Juventus who had brought much of their success, Lyon went back to the grind of mid-table mediocrity. And after the club narrowly averted the drop, Lucien Jasseron was sacked as coach. The following year became something of a transitional period for Lyon. With Jasseron, Djorkaeff, Aubour, Bruey, Traba, Margottin and...Aimé Mignot, who decided to peruse the amateur leagues. And indifferent league form masked another fantastic cup run. On the 21st of May at the Parc des princes, The president of France handed the Coupe de France over to Lyon’s 24 year old captain, Fleury Di Nallo to cap a 3-1 win over Sochaux-Montbéliard, the streets of Lyon erupted with joy as over 100,000 people welcomed the team home.

Lyon were to battle hard in Ligue 1, the Coupe and Europe, all to no real avail. In 1968, former player Aimé Mignot returned as coach a Lyon player of over 400 games for the club. It was in 1973, however under Lubjomir Mihajlovic from Partizan Belgrade backed with the two Dommenech‘s and Lacombe, that the club claimed their third cup with a 2-1 over Nantes, thanks to Lacombe and Trivic penalty. The following season also saw Lyon do well in Europe again, but rather surprisingly they managed a 3rd place finish in the table, something which they repeated again, a year later.

Lyon soon went back to their ways with new coach Aimé Jacquet taking over in 1976. Those years before and after his reign year saw a lot of changes with the departures of Di Nallo, Bernard Lacombe and club President Rochet. At the end of the 1970’s, Lyon started to slide and with Jacquet announcing his resignation at the end of the 1979/80 season, Lyon needed a victory over Avignon to stay up, they duly did thanks to a 6-0 win.

Lyon bounced back the following year, thanks to heavy investment into the club, finishing an admirable 6th after the catastrophe of last year. However it was only a slight reprieve for the club and after a 16th finish the year before, Lyon struggled and with backroom changes and discontent on and off the pitch, they sled into Ligue 2. For the majority of the 1980’s, the club hovered around Ligue 2, always missing out on promotion or simply never at all. It was the guidance though of Jean Michel Aulas and new coach Raymond Dommench, that saw the club race to the Ligue 2 championship in style. A fairly African hint about their team, with Kabongo leading the charts with 22 goals to help his teams cause to get back into the top-flight.

Lyon settled well and within two years had assembled a neat top 6 side. In 1990/91, their 5th place finish was good enough for European competition. The club was back in business. Sadly it was only European competition that seemed to degrade their performances in the league, as they slumped again down to the wrong end of the table. It was several years later after a assembling a closely knit and well run side, that including the likes of Bruno N’Gotty, Florent Laville, Ludovic Guily Alain Roche, Pascal Olmetta and Gregory Flachez, that helped Lyon reach runners up spot to Paris St-Germain.
Despite their success, it was again to be an epidemic of Lyon’s history that Europe should also be their downfall in the league. Fighting on four fronts just seemed to much it seemed. Only a hotly dispute penalty by Nottingham Forest’s Bryan Roy, edged them 1-0 in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup.

The next year despite the goal scoring duo of Alain Cavéglia and Ludovic Guily, the club again found mid-table mediocrity. It was the following year that Lyon would begin their quest on the way to French football stardom. Cavéglia again leading the line for the Lyon attack and a sturdy defence marshalled by Delmotte, Laville, Uras and Carteron, they finished an admirable 6th and reached the semi-finals of the Cup, losing 2-0 to Lens. And in Europe they were edged out at the San Siro despite a plucky performance against Inter.

The following year, Lyon increased their stature and continued to shine with their performances on the pitch. Cavéglia again scoring for fun, but I was the young stars of the academy that were the real stars of the team. The fruit of their hard labour, masterminded by the 1980 Youth Cup win, was starting to come to plan. Young stars such as Steed Malbranque, Vikash Dhorasso, Grégory Coupet and Frederic Kanouté were the real shining stars of the Lyon sky. A 3rd place finish meant that for the first time in their history, Lyon would be playing in the European Cup.

For the start of the 1999/2000 season, Lyon broke the French record transfer fee to bring Barcelona forward Sonny Anderson to the club, as well as lesser known stars like Pierre Laigle, and Tony Vairelles. Anderson would go onto make Lyon history and scored 23 goals in his debut season at the club. For periods during the Ligue 1 season, it would seem that Lyon would have captured that first elusive sliverware. But indifferent form and some heavy results, meant they had to lick their wounds and try again. Their Champions League adventure however, couldn’t have got off to a worse start. A qualifying defeat to Slovenian champions Maribor, meant a early exit to the UEFA cup, where they lost to Werder Bremen 4-3, despite having a 3-0 lead going into the second leg. In the two cups, quarter final defeats to Bastia and Monaco put paid to any chances of silverware for that season at all. But despite the massive resignation, they qualified once more for the Champions League with a 3rd place spot.

Lyon again set out to clinch that elusive title that had evaded them for their entire history. A much improved Lyon performance in Europe saw them reach the second group stage defeating the likes of Bayern Munich, Spartak Moscow, and Olympiakos as well as narrowly losing at home to Arsenal, which sadly put paid to their hope of getting to the quarter final stage. It was truly to be a season where Lyon surpassed expectation and dominated from the off, reaching the quarter finals of the League Cup (losing to Strasbourg),


But it was the league title that remained highly elusive for Lyon. A large metropolitan town, with a rich history and long standing in the top-flight had nothing to show in their trophy cabinet. But it was at this time that Lyon more ready than ever to claim their debut league championship. Under the tutelage of former St-Etienne great, Jacques Santini and with the home-grown Coupet in between the sticks, and the irrepressible Brazilians Edmislon and Juninho, the young guns of Luyindula and Govou, the maestro Eric Carriere puling the stings in midfield along with Sonny Anderson rounding off the attack, Lyon were a force to be reckoned with.

But the season got off a poor start for Lyon, with a more than shaky start. Despite regaining the lead and going ahead just before December, Lens their main contender for the title started to race clear. Lyon’s form as a result started to struggle. And when the team form the North went 12 points clear at the top of league, it looked as if Lyon had failed once more in their conquest to be crowned French champions. An early exit from the Champions League more than increased their ability to fight back rather than demoralise the team as a whole and the last sixteen exit to surprise Czech outfit, Slovan Liberec proved to be a blessing in disguise. A shock exit to Chateauroux at the Gerland put paid to any silverware that looked possible as the teams headed into February. But as soon as Lyon started to win, Lens started to falter. Two decisive wins against Auxerre and Bordeaux (both 1-0 wins) meant that going into the final game of the season, Lyon knew that they could seal their first ever title win. And what better way to do it, than play the team you are chasing at home, Lens, in a almost championship playoff game. An emotional 2-1 win, sealed a dramatic turn-around. Lyon were crowned champions for the first time in their history.

Where the following season had been an historical and record breaking turnaround for the club, many felt that they would rightly stall in place and go back to the old days of lamenting on past success, But they were wrong, the club went from strength to strength and were even more determined to make it tow in a row. They had the taste of victory and they wanted more, as did the fans and their ambitious chairman J.M Aulas. Building on the success of last year with the same squad, Lyon clinched yet another title win, the far better side in France. Only their cup form remained stagnant, but another title win had the fans in dreamland.

If last year had been a stroll, then Lyon faced an uphill battle even greater than the one they did in 2001. Heading into the January and with the perennial Champions League team, Monaco going 10 points ahead in Ligue 1, Lyon along with Paris SG were involved in a three way battle for the title. Monaco’s capitulation at home to Rennes made it yet another title for Lyon, despite losing away to PSG, they knew that bar a mathematical improbability, they had their 3rd title in as many years.

And with Lyon now comfortably heading for another Ligue 1 title, looking to surpass the great St-Etienne’s four in a row, it is clear that this humble club form the foot of the French Alps are definitely living the dream. And the Lyonnais fans certainly hope that it can last.

EDIT: this is my own work, original on my hard-drive, no funny buisness etc etc....

 

Re: Olympique Lyonnaise Cafe

10 mins, you lazy lil git....

Erm, dunno about a book. That would be pretty cool though.

 

Re: Olympique Lyonnaise Cafe

Hmmmm. A published writer......

Needs editing before it can be posted properly, It still has errors and it probably needs drafting a bit.

 

Re: Olympique Lyonnaise Cafe

As a PSG fan, I gotta give major props to OL for being the current class organization in Ligue 1. Paul LeGuen has done a great job in these past three season. I would welcome him as the coach of PSG. but I don't get why would he leave Lyon. The club currently is ruling Ligue 1 and has become a Champions League contender. Nonetheless, Olympique Lyonnais est le champion de Ligue 1.

 

Re: Olympique Lyonnaise Cafe

It was a great game to watch. Wiltord missed some good chances. Juninho missed a penalty kick but the replay showed it wasn't a penalty. Ajaccio's goal came out of nowhere on the counter attack. Lyon had like 21 shots on goal to Ajaccio's 8. Ajaccio played well when they were reduced to 10 men. Cacapa's goal was awesome. He wasnt even marked when he headed it in on the corner kick.

 

Re: Olympique Lyonnaise Cafe

Congrat's to OL!

They join Saint-Etienne (1967-1970) &
Marseille (1989-1992) as 4-times winners
Amazing run.

 

Re: Olympique Lyonnaise Cafe

Good chance to win 5 in a row too because their competition are so inept.

 

Congratulations L'OL, job well done!

 

I almost shed a tear yesterday. Hopefully Lyon can keep most of their team intact. I don't see why guys like Govou want to leave if they have a legit chance to win the CL. Govou would probably play for some mid-table caliber club in Spain, England, or Italy where he wont play any CL matches.

 

Isaac Asimov, once wrote a book, entitled 'Where do we go from here?'

It's general astronomically stuff, although it poses an interesting open-ended, philosophical and provocative question in it's title.

I shall ask you the same question, only in the second person...

After Le Guen's resignation, where does Lyon go from here - shall they succeed with the pure financial shrewdness of Aulas and the board, or are they lost without a master tactician like PLG?

If so, who is the replacement, that should carry on the burden of Lyon's continous success?

 

Didier Dechamps should be the replacement.

 

Aulas said the new manager must have experience in the Champions League and he said he wasnt opposed to hiring someone from abroad.

Jean-Michel Aulas: "to accept the decision and to rebound"


President Jean-Michel Aulas succeeded his trainer after that Ci announced its decision "It is with many emotions and sadness that I learned this decision. Paul brought enormously to the club. One had been made with the idea walk some of the way a longer bit of a walk together. His decision is accepted. It behaved so much with intelligence and elegance. It thought of its career and the OL. With us maintaining to seize this advisability within a positive framework to rebound. I want of him to say cheer; it made progress the OL. We must rebound in another context. One will get busy to quickly mitigate the 2 stations (that of trainer and assistant) left vacant. I appreciated the trainer; I appreciated the man. Our relations with the daily newspaper were exceptional. It enabled me to progress. I include/understand his reasons. It alerted us before the end of season; I thank it publicly ".

This departure can it be regarded as a failure for the club ? "Yes, except if one takes into account the remarks, reasons of Paul. One will make in kind rebound. The ideal would be to find the double of Paul. The future trainer will be a trainer with experiment; he must have known the League Champions. He must be ambitious and assume our high objectives. A foreign trainer ? I am not against any more. The experiment will take precedence over the concept of nationality. I would like that one enjoys this 4th title and that the departure of Paul does not standardize this new title "

A new trainer can it lead departures of players and influence recruitment? "the players under contract will not leave except for that with whom I have give a good of exit (Govou). Recruitment is quite advanced; it was prepared. The new trainer will be able to arrive when he will want by knowing that the day of the recovery is fixed at June 28. I wish to reinforce the group and not to weaken it. The defeat counters the PSV Eindhoven left me a bitter taste. I will not forget it. The road is traced. it remains us to make a success of the intermediate road "

The president concluding very clearly on his position relating to the role from the trainer with the OL. "the institution Olympique Lyonese is dominating. A Formula 1 with the passing of years was built. The pilot does not choose his car; he must lead it. One will not change F1 ".

 

Aulas said the new manager must have experience in the Champions League and he said he wasnt opposed to hiring someone from abroad.

from http://olweb.fr

Jean-Michel Aulas: "to accept the decision and to rebound"


President Jean-Michel Aulas succeeded his trainer after that Ci announced its decision "It is with many emotions and sadness that I learned this decision. Paul brought enormously to the club. One had been made with the idea walk some of the way a longer bit of a walk together. His decision is accepted. It behaved so much with intelligence and elegance. It thought of its career and the OL. With us maintaining to seize this advisability within a positive framework to rebound. I want of him to say cheer; it made progress the OL. We must rebound in another context. One will get busy to quickly mitigate the 2 stations (that of trainer and assistant) left vacant. I appreciated the trainer; I appreciated the man. Our relations with the daily newspaper were exceptional. It enabled me to progress. I include/understand his reasons. It alerted us before the end of season; I thank it publicly ".

This departure can it be regarded as a failure for the club ? "Yes, except if one takes into account the remarks, reasons of Paul. One will make in kind rebound. The ideal would be to find the double of Paul. The future trainer will be a trainer with experiment; he must have known the League Champions. He must be ambitious and assume our high objectives. A foreign trainer ? I am not against any more. The experiment will take precedence over the concept of nationality. I would like that one enjoys this 4th title and that the departure of Paul does not standardize this new title "

A new trainer can it lead departures of players and influence recruitment? "the players under contract will not leave except for that with whom I have give a good of exit (Govou). Recruitment is quite advanced; it was prepared. The new trainer will be able to arrive when he will want by knowing that the day of the recovery is fixed at June 28. I wish to reinforce the group and not to weaken it. The defeat counters the PSV Eindhoven left me a bitter taste. I will not forget it. The road is traced. it remains us to make a success of the intermediate road "

The president concluding very clearly on his position relating to the role from the trainer with the OL. "the institution Olympique Lyonese is dominating. A Formula 1 with the passing of years was built. The pilot does not choose his car; he must lead it. One will not change F1 ".

 

We shall see, as I've said; crazy things have happened. We shall wait who is annouced PSG coach - until they say it isn't PLG - then I shall quit with my deluded notions.