On the weekend of Liverpool's FA Cup final success, not many Irish soccer fans will have paid much attention to the happenings last Saturday at the Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes where the home-based side, better known as "The Canaries", lifted their eighth French league title win.
FC Nantes Atlantique are hardly newcomers since only St Etienne with 10 title wins have a better French domestic record. Ironically, too, Nantes' title win on Saturday came at the expense of a St Etienne side already doomed to relegation and beaten 1-0 by a ninth-minute goal from little-known Tahitian striker, Marama Vahirua.
Nantes' title success, however, merits reflection and not just for the obvious reason that they are now one of the "second level" sides that the various Real Madrids, Manchester Uniteds, Bayern Munichs and AS Romas can expect to meet in the first phase of the Champions League next season.
The intriguing aspect of this Nantes success concerns the extent to which it has been homegrown. At a time when many of Europe's biggest names devote more time and energy towards buying success rather than developing it, Nantes have struck a blow for nurtured talent.
No less than 18 of the current 30-player Nantes squad, not to mention seven of the players fielded against St Etienne on Saturday, have all come through the club's Youth Teams. Nantes have created their success around the enthusiasm and hard work of a group of relatively unknown players - goalscorer Vahirua, Mickael Landreau, Mathieu Berson, Salomon Olembe and Hassan Ahamada - all of whom are under 22 years of age.
This crop of youth team players, aided by the skill of French Player of the Year, midfielder Eric Carriere, and allied to the experience of Argentinian defender Nestor Fabbri and Romanian striker Viorel Moldovan (England fans may recall this name), have seen Nantes develop into a tough, battling unit.
Coached by Raynald Denoueix, Nantes had already established their competitive credentials both with back-to-back French Cup wins in the last two seasons and also with a gutsy struggle to avoid relegation last year. On that occasion, Vahirua again proved the hero of the hour when scoring the winning goal against Le Havre on the last day of the season.
Nantes last won the French title in 1995 and the memory of that success prompts the single most important question about the club's immediate future. Six years ago, their championship win attracted the attention of Europe's biggest clubs who plundered players like Christian Karembeu (Sampdoria, Real Madrid and Middlesborough), Benoit Cauet (Inter Milan), Claude Makelele (Olympique Marseilles, Celta Vigo) and Reynold Pedros (Olympique Marseilles, Parma, Napoli).
Nantes sports director, Robert Budzynski, is cautiously hopeful that he can avoid a repeat scenario this time, arguing that the financial incentive offered by the Champions League itself offers certain "protections".
"The Champions League is one of the main differences nowadays. I remember 1995 very well, but it's different today. Before we were simply concerned about ensuring that the club was financially secure each season. There isn't that constraint anymore as we have a far greater revenue field. We no longer have to sell our best players.
"Obviously, to some extent we still have to answer to the big clubs . . . If a club comes in with a lot of money, then players will (want to) leave. We can't stop players leaving if they want to, even if they are tied down by a contract . . . Nonetheless, I'm not anticipating any big changes in the squad."
In the meantime, Nantes have already laid plans for next season with the purchase of two promising players in Sedan midfielder Olivier Quint and Bastia striker Pierre-Yves Andre.
As for their current goal-scoring hero, Vahirua, a player who only a month ago complained about being used too often as a "super-sub", his satisfaction was all too palpable last Saturday. "I couldn't be happier. I turned 21 today, my wife is pregnant and we are champions. It is almost impossible to express how I feel."
