After reaching the play-offs last season, Le Havre had been hoping to make a sustained push for promotion this time around. However, the Normandy side fell short and are condemned to an 11th consecutive campaign in the second tier next season. That is too long for a proud club who are France's oldest.
Oswald Tanchot's side started well enough, losing only one of their first nine games. However, they did not have the consistency required to compete for promotion, and sat ninth in the table at the halfway stage of the season. They did go on a run of just two defeats in 19 games from late November to April. That meant snatching a play-off place remained possible heading into the final few games, but they eventually fell short after collecting only one point from the last 12 available, and they finished seventh, nine points adrift of the top five. Le Havre were strong in their own Stade Oceane as usual, and notably won away at eventual champions Metz. Nevertheless, they were undone by too many draws, with 15 in total the joint-highest number in the division. On eight occasions they threw away leads to draw games, and that cost them dear.
It now remains to be seen if Tanchot will remain as coach. He was not helped this season by the Harold Moukoudi saga, with the talented young defender being frozen out after refusing to sign a new contract. He will move to Saint-Etienne in the summer. Jean-Pascal Fontaine and Zinedine Ferhat were influential, while Zimbabwe forward Tino Kadewere showed signs of promise but did not do enough following a big-money switch from Sweden. Victor Lekhal enjoyed a fine season in midfield and broke into the Algeria squad before a serious knee injury ended his campaign prematurely.
