Bundesliga review part 2. the new one :)

[Tony Flags]

Hannover 96 now relegated. After 14 years.

Was about time, wasn't it? I mean a team happy to linger around middle of the table. You would expect them to at least do better than Mainz, right?

 

[Bembeltown]

@uweuweuwe : Thanks! :)
@Scaring Europe to Death: FSV has a really really small fan base which is mainly coming from one part of Frankfurt called Bornheim. Lots of older people, families etc. They are not considered rivals by us, simply because they are a lot smaller in every regard. They are more like a little brother and I always keep an eye on their results. 2nd league is a really big for them, hope they manage to stay in.

 

[Bembeltown]

@Tony Flags: Well yeah Hannover are a club similar to Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Köln etc. Lots of support and tradition but they dont manage to get a foot on the ground. Not to long ago they played in the Euro League and looked like a well established team, now they are going down.

Seems to be a pattern for a lot of those older clubs (us included).

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

@uweuweuwe : Thanks! :)
@Scaring Europe to Death: FSV has a really really small fan base which is mainly coming from one part of Frankfurt called Bornheim. Lots of older people, families etc. They are not considered rivals by us, simply because they are a lot smaller in every regard. They are more like a little brother and I always keep an eye on their results. 2nd league is a really big for them, hope they manage to stay in.

That sounds like our attitude to Stockport in the 80s.
1997: Stockport 3 City 1
Probably my worst day ever, supporting City (and I've had plenty of bad ones)

 

[Tony Flags]

@Tony Flags: Well yeah Hannover are a club similar to Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Köln etc. Lots of support and tradition but they dont manage to get a foot on the ground. Not to long ago they played in the Euro League and looked like a well established team, now they are going down.
Seems to be a pattern for a lot of those older clubs (us included).

It is kinda strange isn't it? I can understand Berlin (WWII?) not having an established first division club but it is difficult to understand why Mainz for example (or Augsburg recently) can have a better track record than I don't know, your team (no offense), Koln, Ingolstadt among others. Even then if you don't have a big corp behind that payroll it is difficult to see the past days of Schalke, Hamburg or Bremen doing better back in Europe.

 

[Alex - City Matters]

It is kinda strange isn't it? I can understand Berlin (WWII?) not having an established first division club but it is difficult to understand why Mainz for example (or Augsburg recently) can have a better track record than I don't know, your team (no offense), Koln, Ingolstadt among others. Even then if you don't have a big corp behind that payroll it is difficult to see the past days of Schalke, Hamburg or Bremen doing better back in Europe.

This is a rather confused post. First time I've seen Schanzer compared to Traditionsverein.

 

[Tony Flags]

First time I've seen Schanzer compared to Traditionsverein.

Just realized Ingolstadt was a pretty poor example.

 

[Bembeltown]

I agree with you Tony that it is strange. Seems like the majority of the "old" clubs are doing a horrible job despite having the infrastructure/fanbase to do better. Augsburg, Mainz, Freiburg etc. all are on a worse budget, got smaller grounds, less fans and still do better than the old guard.

I was hoping that we would be able to permanently compete for a solid spot in the upper regions of the table once we got promoted and got to the Euro League immediately the year after.

We had a pretty solid team with promising youngsters who then got poached by Bayern/Wolfsburg and decided to warm the bench over there instead of getting regular play time. Jung looked like a candidate for the national team when he played for us, now he completely disappeared from the landscape. Rode had a solid first year with Bayern, but thats it...Now he is pretty much a bench warmer as well.

Kevin Trapp went to PSG and we got some solid money for him, but seems like we invested into the wrong players which is a vicious cycle.

Clubs like us lose players, invest the money and if the replacement is not a success we are pretty much doomed as we dont got enough financial background to invest into players who are more or less a guaranteed success. So it all comes down to our scouting which has proven to be horrible in the past.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

It is kinda strange isn't it? I can understand Berlin (WWII?) not having an established first division club but it is difficult to understand why Mainz for example (or Augsburg recently) can have a better track record than I don't know, your team (no offense), Koln, Ingolstadt among others. Even then if you don't have a big corp behind that payroll it is difficult to see the past days of Schalke, Hamburg or Bremen doing better back in Europe.

From an outsider looking-in, it seems as though clubs such as Mainz and Augsburg are well run outfits, probably living within their means, and recognising their own limitations (similar to Stoke and Swansea being better organised than clubs with potentially larger support, such as Leeds or Aston Villa)
So, are you happy with the existing structure, or would you prefer the Bundesliga to relax its ownership rules, and allow clubs such as Koln or Hamburg to be aided by large investment?

 

[Tony Flags]

So, are you happy with the existing structure, or would you prefer the Bundesliga to relax its ownership rules, and allow clubs such as Koln or Hamburg to be aided by large investment?

Well on paper anyone trying to suggest a change of structure would be shooting themselves on the foot sort to speak, considering the Bundesliga's league ranking. I wouldn't change the structure, no. And yet you would hope to have Hamburg for example - a club of that size and history - to be constantly fighting even in the Europa League instead of having to watch them avoid relegation season after next (Jesus watching Labbadia enjoy avoiding relegation like he won the league is pathetic.)

But even more than that I think the league could benefit from 'outside' investment (could be Germany's famous corporate clubs i.e.) create more derbies as you would see in the EPL. I would love to see some sort of St Pauli vs Hamburg, 1860 vs Bayern or God forbid Tasmania vs Hertha instead of just your regular Schalke vs Dortmund to spice things up bellow the top. So yes, I would flex things over a bit in that regard to make something like that possible.