Toulouse have secured another season of Ligue 1 football, but came closer to the drop than ever before during their 14-year stay in the top flight. With just nine wins to their credit, it was the poorest season they have endured, with their total of 37 points seeing them drop into the relegation playoff.
Ajaccio were seen off comfortably in those encounters, though the Corsicans had disciplinary issues of their own prior to those matches, both on and off the field. Toulouse won their place in Le Championnat for next term with a 4-0 aggregate victory, but their season as a whole was not nearly that comfortable.
After finishing the previous campaign with a real flourish to secure unlikely survival under Pascal Dupraz, Toulouse started this campaign well. They might have lost to Monaco and PSG on the road, but these were expected defeats, while they overcame Montpellier and Rennes in August.
A five-match unbeaten run in October anchored them successfully in the middle of the table, but thereafter they failed to get anything going. There were no dramatic slumps in form but simply a gradual decline that saw TFC lose several matches in succession, pick up a positive result, then go on another brief losing streak.
Dupraz might have been sacked by the club in the spring, but their decision to bring in Mickael Debeve was an uninspiring one and not one that brought about any great change in fortune. Instead, the return of Max Gradel from injury allowed them to improve offensively and ultimately fired them to safety.
Three successive losses had left Toulouse perilously close to automatic relegation on the final day of the season, but a 2-1 win over Guingamp sealed their place in the playoff, which they then won with ease.
Debeve’s mission to save Toulouse was successful, but this is a club that is aiming for more and there is no guarantee he will be around next season.
