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Jan 04 2012 01:32 PM | nakuu in General

After seven consecutive titles won by Olympique Lyonnais, a reinvigorated Bordeaux led by now les Bleus coach Laurent Blanc usurped seemingly perennial champions of Ligue 1 with the help of Gourcuff (also affectionately known as the 120938123 coming of Zidane). That season was the closest Marseille had been to the title since the 92/93 season and they came out even hungrier the next season with their first Ligue 1 title in over a decade with club icon Didier Deschamps at the helm. In the midst of this, Paris St. Germain churned out a few Coupe de France and made headlines with their recurring problems with hooligans but success eluded the capital club.

The takeover of Paris St. Germain by their new Qatari owners are set to change all this. They have been known as the "Manchester City" of France but many say they have chosen to invest more wisely and carefully than their English counterparts. They wasted no time in bringing the highly rated Argentinian Pastore from Palermo for a record 40 million euros along with Menez, Lugano, Gameiro, Sirigu and Sissoko just to name a few.

It's clear that their new owners demand success and expect it - fast. They appointed Leonardo as their sporting director, no doubt a man with tremendous influence who has succeeded in bringing several players from Italy into France which is not as common one might think. However there was still the problem of Kombouaré.

Not a terrible coach if we're judging by the standards of Ligue 1, but the new Qatari owners want glam and Kombouaré does not have the resume to fill that position. It was irrelevant that he led Valenciennes to top flight football and improved their standings in the table every season despite severe constraints on the club's budget - his name means nothing in Europe which meant he was next to useless for the heights that the club considers themselves worthy of.

Despite PSG holding a 3 point lead over their second place rivals, Kombouaré was officially fired approximately one hour before they brought in Ancelotti although talks were well in place before the news was leaked. Will Paris regret this decision come the end of the season? Or will Carlo find a way to plug in the gaps in the Parisien side and lead them to success?

And what of the other clubs? How will they hope to compete with PSG's massive budget? Will other Ligue 1 clubs become a feeder club for the capital club? The problem of Ligue 1's ability to hold onto talented youngsters has plagued the clubs since the arrival of billionaire owners and inhibited their capacity to maintain their squads. The likes of Hazard (twice the winner of Ligue 1's Young Player of the year award), M'vila, Sakho, Martin etc. are highly rated players outside of Europe and it's only a matter of time until their clubs will be forced to cash in.

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