The Stade Raymond Kopa had to wait on Saturday evening to fully celebrate Angers SCO's 2-1 win over RC Strasbourg. In anticipation of the match, Angers knew that a victory would probably protect them against relegation, but to be confirmed, they needed results elsewhere to take advantage.
At the last whistle, the eyes went north to the Stade Océane. A delay in the collision between Le Havre and Olympique de Marseille as a result of Crowd Trouble had left it as the last Ligue 1 match that had to be completed, and the match that would determine whether Angers could start their celebrations seriously.
A 3-1 defeat for Le Havre was enough to mathematically free Le SCO from the relegation play-off place with one more game to play. “We waited among each other in the dressing room and watched,” said Angers' sports director, Laurent Boissier, L'équipe said: “It was a moment of joy. Experiencing such emotions, that is what makes me exist.”
There is perhaps no team in France that has tart expectations, as Angers have this season, which makes it all the more surprising that their performance apparently flown under the radar. After they had protected promotion to the top flight last year, they were the widespread favorites to fall back to Ligue 2 immediately.
It was a difficult task to find someone who did not think Angers would struggle with their return to Ligue 1. And there were valid reasons for this point of view, the club has the lowest budget in the competition and spent no euro in transfer costs. As Boissier explained: “It's like in Formula 1. We didn't have the best car on the starting line, and in general the worst did not win the race.”
Despite the choeling budget, however, the club supported itself to succeed by a sharp eye for an excellent deal. Esteban Lepaul, for example, who scored both goals against Strasbourg (and scored a total of 13 in all competitions for this campaign), was brought halfway through last season for € 150,000 from the third side Sas Épinal.
The results had fallen in recent months, with the club in a row of five defeats in a row before they gathered three victories in their last five. However, a part of what has been so impressive about Angers is that they have the ability to dig deep and continue to fight, even when competitions did not go their way.
Much of it has to do with the character that head coach Alexandre Dujeux has introduced his team. As he told reporters after the 1-0 win over FC Nantes: “We have a team with moral, character and we have proven that we are still there. It is very, very good. You need a lot of resilience in this profession and to maintain faith until the end.”
The question for Angers will soon turn to the future. The financial gap in France is growing alone and the club knows that they will again have the lowest budget in the competition next season. For Boissier, the answer is simple: “We will have to be twice as good, twice as inventive, to get this new miracle. But it doesn't worry me.”