One of France's biggest and best supported clubs and French champions in 1998, Lens agonisingly missed out on promotion on the final day despite beating Niort 3-1 as they took 10 points from a possible 12 in their last four outings. Les Sang et Or ended up in fourth place, a point behind both Amiens in second and Troyes in third. They would have gone into a two-legged play-off with FC Lorient for promotion but for a late, late winner for Amiens in their last game. Instead, they will have to prepare for a third successive season in the second tier, a seventh at this level in 10 campaigns. "It is hard, frustrating for the team, the club and the fans," admitted coach Alain Casanova, appointed last summer and set the aim of leading the northern giants back into Ligue 1. "This is a club that deserves to be in Ligue 1. I am not going to pass the blame on to others. I came here to get promotion and we have not done it. It is a personal failure."
Lens were briefly top of the table at the end of March but ultimately they were undone by their own inconsistency. They were playing catch-up after winning just one of their opening seven matches, a start to the season that also saw them eliminated from the Coupe de la Ligue by third-tier Paris FC on penalties. After climbing into the promotion places for the first time in January, they duly won just one of their next six outings. And after hitting the top of the table, they proceeded to lose three out of four games in April, meaning their end-of-season flourish was insufficient. In the Coupe de France they knocked out Ligue 1 Metz only to lose at lower-league Bergerac in the round of 32. Veteran goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez and tricky winger Abdellah Zoubir were both named in the Ligue 2 team of the year while English-born midfielder John Bostock was named player of the year after an impressive campaign that saw him contribute five goals and four assists.
