Caen's unlikely Ligue 1 rise could lead to the Champions League

After being promoted in 2014, they were bottom at Christmas and looked pretty certain to go straight back down despite playing an attractive style of football. They managed to turn things around and make 2015 one of the best years -- maybe even the best -- in club history. In their wildest dreams, fans couldn't have expected their team to be second in the league in December.

We could be talking about Leicester City in the Premier League, but actually this is the same for French side Caen. The modest outfit from Lower Normandy are second in Ligue 1, only behind Paris Saint-Germain, following an emphatic 4-1 win at Bordeaux on Sunday.

In fact, their overachievement is arguably even more remarkable than that of Leicester, who operate in the cash-rich Premier League and whose owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha is the ninth-richest among his top-flight peers. By contrast, Caen's annual budget of €26 million is one of the lowest in the French first division.

The difference between the two clubs was highlighted when midfield stalwart N'Golo Kante moved from Caen to Leicester in the summer for €8 million. The fee was by far the highest ever received by the French side, but the Foxes spent more on Shinji Okazaki in the same transfer window.

A year ago, before their revival, things looked bleak for Caen. Not only was the team bottom of Ligue 1 with just 15 points from 19 games, but they were also embroiled in a match-fixing investigation over a 1-1 draw against Nimes in the penultimate game of the 2013-14 season.

The result helped Caen make sure of promotion to the top division, while their relegation-threatened opponents stayed up. Caen were only acquitted of any wrongdoing in March, by which time things had improved for them on the pitch as well. 

It all started with a 4-1 triumph over Reims in January, after which Caen suddenly became an unstoppable attacking machine. Six wins in seven games, with 20 goals scored in the process, lifted them into mid-table safety.

By the end of the season, Caen had 54 goals to their name, a tally only bettered by PSG, Lyon and Marseille. Caen's style and attitude were simply breathtaking at times, and manager Patrice Garande has to take the plaudits for such an impressive achievement.

It is almost natural that Garande is an underrated, attack-minded coach because he was a underrated forward in his playing days. He grew up in the St, Etienne academy, but it became clear that there was no future for him at the club following the arrival of Michel Platini in 1979.

Garande moved on, eventually spending five successful years at Auxerre under the guidance of the legendary Guy Roux. The young striker was the top scorer in Ligue 1 with 21 goals in 1983-84, and he remembers those times fondly.

"Nothing was left to chance with Roux. He took care of everything, and his work ethic and toughness have influenced me," Garande said in 2013 when Caen were still in Ligue 2. 

After hanging up his boots following short spells at Nantes, St. Etienne, Lens, Montpellier, Le Havre and Sochaux, as well as earning a solitary cap for France in 1988, Garande didn't make a name for himself in the coaching business and spent seven years as an assistant at Caen before being promoted at the age of 51 in place of Franck Dumas.

His appointment in the summer of 2012, after the club had been relegated, was a bit surprising, but it was evident from his first press conference that Garande knew what he wanted to do.

"We need to recreate something at this club," he said. He has since been true to his word, as Caen is playing attacking, imaginative football, which suited the club's heritage.

In the 1980s, for example, they showed glimpses of a fast "English" style when former Arsenal star Graham Rix and Luton Town legend Brian Stein played for them. In 1992, they were fifth in Ligue 1 -- their highest finish to date -- and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the only time in history.

Nobody expected those days to return, but attractive football was most definitely welcome at the club whose full name is Stade Malherbe Caen, after the 16th century poet Francois de Malherbe, who lived in the town. Some fans like to say, "we are a team of poets, not footballers."

With the current management, they have no other choice but to play like poets. Not only was Garande a talented striker but Alain Caveglia, Caen's director of football since 2011, was one of the most artistic, elegant and unpredictable players in France in the 1990s, even though he sadly never received a chance to play for the national team.

Deputy director Xavier Gravelaine did play for the national team and also had a positive spell at Marseille. All three knew how to put the ball in the net themselves, and now they want their players to do the same.