Since being relegated from Ligue1 in 2009, it has not been smooth sailing for Le Havre.
Based in the Normandy port city some 200km northwest of Paris, France’s oldest club still in existence had to get used to second division purgatory. Coaches such as ex-USA boss Bob Bradley and former Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Rangers manager Paul Le Guen had failed in recent seasons in their attempts to return Le Havre to the top flight.
Prior to this campaign, the closest Le Havre had come to ending this exile came in 2017-18, when they lost on penalties to Ajaccio in a play-off semi-final that was marred by violence both on and off the pitch.
As the setting for some of Claude Monet’s most famous paintings, continually falling short of promotion had caused some Le Havre fans to view things with the blurred vision of disillusion. Matches had been boycotted, and there
