Canaries crashing down after record flight

Eight-times French champions Nantes, nicknamed after their yellow colours, have never left the first division since 1963 but are now stuck at the bottom of the table with little hope of saving their feathers.

The team from the Atlantic port are seven points from safety with five games left and a 4-0 thrashing by fellow strugglers PSG last weekend did nothing to suggest they could survive.

Nantes were promoted under the guidance of Jose Arribas, who coached them until 1976 and nurtured a style of football "a la nantaise", as it is still referred to in France today. It is based on a quick, passing game and built on collective strength rather than individual skills.

Arribas was also responsible for giving Nantes a reputation for schooling young talent that lasted for decades and produced great players such as Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly and Claude Makelele.

The Nantes fans, so used to being at the top, are in a state of shock after a nightmare season featuring persistent internal squabbling.

"We all thought such a scenario was impossible," said Jacques d'Haese, a Nantes fans for more than 30 years and the president of a supporters club.

"Our Nantes is in a sorry state."

Nantes, who have used three coaches this season and have won just six matches out of 33, hoped for a turnaround when former France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez came out of retirement in mid-December to help them in their bid to escape relegation.

Unfortunately, what appeared like an early Christmas present turned out to be a poisonous gift, the former world champion harming the club with embarrassing blunders reminiscent of his worst days at Manchester United.

Barthez also stirred controversy, most notably after conceding a clumsy goal in a 1-0 defeat at home to lowly Sedan earlier this month.

After being substituted with an injury, the bald-headed 35-year-old left the stadium straight away without even waiting for the end of the game.

For years a provincial side lovingly looked after by unpretentious father figures, Nantes changed dramatically in 2004 when Serge Dassault, the head of a powerful aviation and industrial company, became the club's owner.

For many, the leadership he put into place broke a rich tradition and are largely responsible for the club's decline.

"There's no project for this club," said former France defender Patrice Rio, who played for Nantes from 1971 to 1984.

"They moved away from the schooling tradition. Dassault hasn't got a clue about football. He never had a coherent policy for this club."

Another former Nantes defender, Maxime Bossis, who played alongside Michel Platini in the great France side of the 1980s, shared Rio's view.

"In sporting and financial terms, it's a waste," Bossis said. "Football has changed but still, many mistakes have been made. A football club is not a company like any other. You need people who know what they're doing."

Nantes, who in 2001 were the last club to win a French title before Lyon started their reign and claimed the next six, know other great French clubs have been there before, Marseille and St Etienne both recovering from spells in the second division.

Many football romantics feel, however, that the downfall of Nantes marks the end of an era, when money was not the measure of all things and clubs with a simple but genuine philosophy could make it to the very top and stay there.

"We were a family with people who signed for life," said d'Haese.

"Now we're a business with people in suits on ejector seats."