Wally with a Brolly

We know people are suddenly watching/following Ligue 1 with the arrival of Golden Balls and the musings of Joey 'Nietzsche' Barton. So we thought we'd take you on a Tour de France, introducing the clubs with the players to look out for. First up is AC Ajaccio.




I have never been to Corsica, but from what I've heard from friends who have been, it's quite a beautiful place. Easy for foreigners (i.e. non-French) to say. Let me explain.

Corsica gave us Napoleon. Of course he's seen as a great man in France. But if ever there was a violent man in French History, it was that guy. Man loved his battles. Let's just say he had that fiery Corsican side.

Napoleon: kind of a typical Corsican. Great hat though.

There's also always been an inferiority complex by the Corsicans towards the mainland. Even though they've never organised themselves into a unified population, what with their numerous gang wars (which are still going on by the way), Corsicans have traditionally viewed mainland France, and particularly the 'elites' in Paris, as suspicious. This has resulted in a lack of faith in the authorities and a dramatic criminal underside to Corsica, with different nationalist groups fighting for power and money, often bombing French (non-Corsican) private homes and businesses, as well as police stations and mayors' offices. Think of it as Wales suddenly turning into a massively criminal area. No jokes. Corsica has the highest crime rate per person in the whole of the EU. Quite an achievement.

This feeling of abandonment and inferiority has alway found its equal in the football stakes. Much like Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao for Catalans and Basques respectively, Corsican football clubs have been an extension of the Corsican nationalists' views. Let's just say that no-one likes to go play away in Corsica. Vitriol and violence welcomes you there.

The history of AC Ajaccio is quite emblematic. The club only became professional in 1965 and its links to Corsican nationalism were always established. By 'nationalism', I obviously mean 'Mafia'. Look no further than AC Ajaccio's president, Alain Orsoni, who's been a mainstay of the Corsican nationalism scene, doing prison repeatedly, losing his brother to rival gunmen, and even moving away to South America for over ten years for his safety.

Orsoni: nationalist, mafia leader, killer. Also AC Ajaccio's president. Welcome to Corsica

The club itself has been a victim of nationalists' rivalries in the last year, as two of Orsoni's friends, and members of the club's boards, were shot in plain sight in Ajaccio by the Mafia. Corsica and Ajaccio are a mess, but you need to understand the background to understand exactly what this club represents.

As a whole, AC Ajaccio is also quite representative of what is happening to Corsica. With an extremely old stadium (Stade Francois-Coty) with only its 12,000 capacity, the club has more of a League 1 look than a Ligue 1 look. It continuously struggles for money and even had a staff of 2 last season, with the physiotherapist being the team's assistant manager. It's quite a miracle they're in Ligue 1 as they've spent most of their time in the lower echelons of French football.

Stade Francois-Coty: talk about being between a rock and a hard place when you play there.

AC Ajaccio has traditionally been a Ligue 2 side but has been a bit of a yo-yo side since the early 2000's. Despite the club's chronic lack of money, the enthusiasm of the crowd, combined with the never-say-die and us-against-the-world mentality, has helped make the club move forward and enjoy unparalleled success. With a 2nd place in the 2010-2011 Ligue 2 season after a great end of season run, Ajaccio returned to Ligue 1 after a 5 year hiatus.

Not really welcomed by other clubs into Ligue 1, the Ajaccien club struggled mightily in its first season back in the big time, needing two goals from Corsican player Johan Cavalli on the final day of the season to survive.

AC Ajaccio has always kept up the tradition of having a strong core of Corsican or South of France bornn  players in its side. This partly explains the hot-blooded nature of the team and of their game. This season again, 6 of their regular players are from these areas.

For, let's not kid ourselves, Ajaccio has never been a place where you go to enjoy your football. With a terrible pitch and intimidatingly small stadium with its partisan crowd, Ajaccio relies on their ability to disrupt the other team's game. Add to that a tendency to get red cards in their games (5 in last week-end's Corsican derby against Bastia, a Ligue 1 record) and you've got the equivalent of what you'd get if Stoke suddenly decided they wanted Staffordshire to become independent. So it's not pretty. But Ajaccio keep on surviving and being competitive. And that's impressive.

Welcome to Hell.

THE MANAGER

You need a certain type of character to survive as a manager in Corsica. Orsoni and the club understands that, and their list of previous managers includes fiery, Southern characters such as Rollan Courbis (soon to be doing prison himself) and Oliver Pantaloni. The island's connection, both sentimental and criminal, with Marseille, means that Ajaccio managers are either Corsican or from near or around Marseille.

Emon: as a fiery Southerner, he'll survive. Just.

This year's manager is no different. Albert Emon's background as a player and manager never strayed too far from the South of France, with only a season in Reims as a player being the exception.

Emon has never been successful as a manager, but did take over at Marseille twice, so he knows what he's dealing with. His tactical abilities are pretty simple, but he does seem to have understood the ethos of the club quite well since joining in January. Preferring a strong, defensively secure side, Emon has helped lead the club to a place just above the relegation zone. That's where they're hoping to stay.


STAR PLAYERS 

Three players this season have encapsulated AC Ajaccio's ethos and mood.

The first is Guillermo Ochoa. It was quite a coup when recently-promoted Ajaccio managed to get Ochoa, who at the time was only 25 but Mexico's number one goalkeeper. And what a coup it's proven to be. Now in his second season in Corsica, the wild-haired goalie has been a rock between the sticks, helping Ajaccio concede only 37 goals in 27 games, a highly respectable number considering how weak their defence is. Don't be surprised if you hear him being linked with some top clubs in the near future. Liverpool are said to have enquired about him.




Finally, Johan Cavalli has been a stabilising presence at the club. Ajaccio-born, the creative midfielder has been a consistent source of chances for his strikers, often linking up midfield and attack with an efficient and powerful way. His silky left foot has allowed the struggling club to keep possession and try to build rather than always bomb forward. And he keeps alive the Corsican flavour at the club. An important player both on and off the pitch.







REMEMBER HIM?

Showing exactly why Ligue 1 is hard to take seriously, Ajaccio boast two familiar names, and both were laughing stock material in England.

Adrian Mutu is somehow still alive, and still believes in his own hype. Arriving unfit from Italy, he notoriously declared, perhaps still under the influence of some strong illegal substances, that he would challenge and beat Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the goalscoring charts. Although his goalscoring has been honourable (7 in 18), his general laziness and arrogance caused the club to sack previous manager Alain Dupont (a lame duck anyway) and caused rift with his team-mates. Classic Mutu then. I'm guessing his arrival also helped promote good relations between the Corsican and Romanian mafias, so Adrian must be doing something right.



Remember Ronald Zubar? A beast of a man who seemingly never understood the offside trap at Wolves, Ronald is enoying a mini-renaissance at Ajaccio, on loan from the Wanderers. By 'renaissance', I of course mean that Ronald alternates between world-class, average and truly dreadful, with the latter two instances being more frequent than the former. But it's good to see him back on a football pitch, even if it's jsut for purely selfish comical reasons.