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Helpless, perplexed, dejected: Schalke players in 2-0 loss to Wolfsburg. Image: keystone
“Number of laughter”: the unprecedented clash of the proud FC Schalke 04
Few people will fondly remember the turbulent year 2020. FC Schalke 04 fans not only have to deal with Corona, but also experience the rapid decline of their club.
Tasmania Berlin had recently shown concern. The worst club in Bundesliga history, a unique and questionable sales pitch, is concerned about its record against desolate FC Schalke 04. “It belongs in Tasmanian history,” Board Chairman Almir Numic emphasized to the SID agency. In 1965/66, the Berliners lined up 31 legendary Bundesliga matches without victories, Schalke “only” have 24.
But with the back of the Ruhrpott table, a lot, almost everything, is in a bad spot next to the venue. “Sporty at the end, economically at the end, cabin at the end, leadership at the end,” lists the newspaper “Bild” and writes that “the bottom has finally been reached from the bottom.”
Individual training, contract termination, dismissal, all in one day
The magazine “Kicker” also writes in a comment about the “laughing stock of Schalke”. Anyone sad that they can’t go to the movies right now because of Corona just needs to be entertained by the Schalke blockbusters this Tuesday.
In fact, the events of Gelsenkirchen happened yesterday. The club parted ways with technical director Michael Reschke, the contract with summer forward Vedad Ibisevic will be terminated at the end of the year, Amine Harit and Nabil Bentaleb, the latter on his 26th birthday, became entangled in individual training.
It is not the measurements that make you think, but their triggers. After the 2-0 loss to Wolfsburg on Saturday, Ibisevic and assistant coach Naldo fell out on Sunday. They got into such a fight that training was interrupted. Harit was substituted by Wolfsburg before the break and is therefore said to have messed with coach Manuel Baum disrespectfully. Bentaleb causes riots time and time again: it is already clear that the “Stinkstiefel” (kicker) will not receive a new contract in the summer.
Debt is very pressing
Now it is the case that those responsible are watching surveillance cameras in the stadium. Thanks to their recordings, they were able to put out another fire – that is, refute the claim that the disappointed Benjamin Stambouli left the arena prematurely after being replaced on Saturday. There are testimonies and video recordings that would show that Stambouli only left the stadium with two other players long after the final whistle, Schalke said.
At least they still found money for the electricity bill, one might scoff. In the end, the club has accumulated around 240 million euros of debt. The club continues to breathe thanks to a guarantee from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The mandate of businessman Clemens Tönnies as chairman of the supervisory board ended in June after two decades.
If he could still stay in office after the racist remarks of the previous year, Tönnies was now condemned for a crown outbreak in one of his slaughterhouses. In the course of the case, business methods emerged that led politicians to demand a prison sentence for Tönnies. It became a mortgage for Schalke.
Top to bottom in two years
It really wasn’t that long ago that the club was in excellent shape. In the summer of 2018, the sky over Gelsenkirchen glowed the most beautiful royal blue. Thanks to second place behind series champion Bayern Munich, FC Schalke 04, the pride of Germany’s poorest city, made it to the Champions League. It was the beginning of the end. Two years later, the club is in ruins.
Ruhrpott’s idyll with the Schalker Arena, where the sky no longer glows royal blue. Image: www.imago-images.de
The following season was already disappointing. Schalke always occupied a place in the bottom midfield of the Bundesliga table, finishing the season in 14th place. “Knappen” spent the winter in the Champions League, but the round of 16 was over. With one more man, Schalke failed to take home a 2-1 lead in the first leg against Manchester City and lost 3-2. And he was disarmed in the second leg in England with the 7-0 victory of the “Citizens” according to all the rules of art.
Breel Embolo and neon green Schalke had no chance against Bernardo Silva and Co. Image: www.imago-images.de
New hope was needed and that came in the summer of 2019 with David Wagner. As a player, he was one of Schalke’s legendary “Eurofighters” who won the 1997 UEFA Cup. As a manager, he had coached cheeky outsider Huddersfield Town in the Premier League. And indeed, things got back up with Wagner: Schalke finished the first half of the season in fifth place, tied with arch-rival Borussia Dortmund.
Schalke fans are tough from experience. But what came next, not even the last and last trailer behind could have imagined. A downward sporting trend started, which has only stopped because at the end of the season it cannot go beyond 18th and last place.
Even in the cup against a fourth division team, it was not without effort
Wagner is gone. It is true that he miraculously managed to stay in office despite 16 consecutive games without a win. But when Schalke also lost the first two games of the current season, Wagner had to leave. In the end they received an 8-0 defeat at Bayern Munich and lost at home to Werder Bremen, who had struggled to save themselves on relegation.
Successful at first, but ultimately lost: coach David Wagner. Image: keystone
But there was no improvement, the wait for the first Bundesliga win since January 17, 2020 continues. Even in the DFB Cup against fourth-class Schweinfurt, Schalke had to tremble when they fell 0-1. In the end they won 4-1, after all, once again a sense of accomplishment. It had no lasting effect.
“I could go into the cabin and cry”
Forward Mark Uth didn’t make any holes in his heart after the 2-0 draw against Wolfsburg. “I’m so served you can’t even imagine it. It’s so sad to play football helplessly every time, “he admitted relentlessly in the” Sky “interview. “We are one step too late every time, every time. We can’t even get into duels, I don’t know how we want to win a match like that. I could walk into the cabin and just cry. “
It is this perplexity that leads to hopelessness. How the hell is this team, stumbling over the republic venues, how this financially astonishing, understaffed club is going to avoid relegation?
The comparison with Donald Trump
Yesterday defender Bastian Oczipka had to stop training due to an injury. The 31-year-old veteran was placed in the rear left, also because there is simply no suitable alternative on the team. Ahead of the away game at Champions League participant Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, there is little evidence that the match series ends without a win. Even if Tasmania Berlin keeps its fingers crossed in the capital.
For the newspaper “Bild”, the matter seems to be over. She makes a comparison with the presidential elections in the United States: “That FC Crisis 04 can still avoid relegation to the 2nd division is currently less likely than a subsequent electoral victory for Donald Trump.”
