Grenoble achieved promotion thanks to photo finish
The club was founded in 1892, but in 1997, two clubs merged to produce Grenoble Foot 38. In 2004, Japanese company took control of the club and just four years later, they achieved promotion to Ligue 1. The new owners soon built a new stadium, and Stade des Alpes was opened on February 2008, and it proved lucky for the team who achieved promotion just four months later. Bosnian legend Mehmed Baždarevic took over as coach in 2007, and helped the team achieve promotion. He was already famous in France, as he played for Sochaux for ten years. The team finished third last season, and that was enough to be among the elite this year. For 45 years the whole city was waiting for the return of their team to top division, and ten days before the end of Ligue 2, that seemed very unlikely. They were 12 points behind the third position ten days before the last game, but after some great results in the last rounds, the team managed to achieve great success.
They managed to bring some good players
Coach Baždarevic faced a very difficult task ahead of this season, as he didn’t have a lot of resources at his disposal, and the team required strengthening. Thanks to some shrewd moves in the transfer market, he managed to add quality to the squad that claimed third promotion berth last season. David Jemmali, Laurent Battles and Daniel Moreira are among the players who joined the club, and they have more than 900 Ligue 1 appearances among them. These players will add much needed experience to the squad, along with keeper Le Crom, who arrived from Lens. The club kept all the players from last season, except for Toure and Paillot who returned to their clubs after spending last season on loan at Grenoble. The team is a lot stronger than last year, and coach Baždarevic is still hoping to sign some players before the end of the transfer window.
In
Laurent Batlles (Toulouse)
Daniel Moreira (on loan from Rennes)
David Jemmali (Bordeaux)
Laurent Courtois (Levante)
Ronan Le Crom (Lens)
Zoran Rendulic (Borac Cacak)
Out
Paillot (returned to Lyon)
Touré (returned to Lille)
Juan (on loan at Châteauroux)
Glombard (free)
They face a fight for survival
After return to top division after 45 years, the team will have just one objective and that is to avoid relegation. Coach Baždarevic knew that his team required strengthening and acted accordingly by bringing experienced players such as Moreira, Battles, Jemmali and Le Crom. These players will add much needed experience to the squad that achieved promotion, and everybody at the club hope that will be enough for survival this season. The transfer window is not over yet, and Baždarevic still wants to sign a couple of more players. There have been some problems in the club before the start of the season, as Japanese owners failed to produce financial guarantees for the competition. But all that is sorted now, and the players can fully concentrate on their job. The team is stronger than last season but still faces a tough relegation battle. We still feel that Grenoble will get relegated this season.
CL
CLQ
UEFA
RELEG