Preview: The final part of the review of the 2008/09 Bundesliga season takes a look at the clubs which are ranked 13th to 18th. From clubs still safe from the relegation mire, to those who are not. Eintracht Frankfurt, Bochum, Borussia Moenchengladbach all live to see another season, while one may feel kind of sorry for Energie Cottbus...but who will be shedding tears that Karlsruhe and Arminia Bielefeld for the season they had in the top-flight? Before the final part of the four-part series, the first part which is about the league as a whole, the second part which is about the top six clubs, the third part being about the clubs from seventh to 12th position.
At the end of the day, even Eintracht Frankfurt coach Friedhelm Funkel had to take his leave. There may be fans who do not like the man who until his departure after the final matchday was still the second-longest serving coach in the Bundesliga after Werder Bremen's Thomas Schaaf (he was there for five years while his Werder counterpart had been at the club for a decade), there are who does though on what became Funkel's final match in charge at the club when they hosted Hamburg. Banners thanking him for whatever he has done to the club based in Germany's financial capital.
Friedhelm Funkel's side might had still been able to stop Hamburg from taking the final Europa League spot, if not for a last-minute strike from Hamburg to make it 2-1 to the visitors. Irregardless of the result, Funkel had already announced before the match that he will step down on the final matchday of the season. He never had disagreements with the club board, contary to media reports. He wanted to leave out of his own free will. But even before he decided to leave, for a real period of time, his own future was actually being called into question due to the fans kept chanting for him to get out. Whenever the journalists asked about it, the club board had always supported Funkel.
The club did managed to get a successor though. A familar face to German football in Michael Skibbe. The former assistant to Rudi Voeller back in the days when Voeller was the German national team coach had been out of work since being released by Galatasray. Skibbe defended his record given of the record his previous coaching job in German football at Bayer Leverkusen. It was due to Leverkusen not being able to qualify for Europe and so that was how he was being released (and a certain Bruno Labbadia stepped in). Now at his new working environment, the speculation surrounding the future of Brazilian Caio is weighing heavily in the air and Skibbe had said that he would work to convince the Brazilian to remain.
One of the few positive lights which caught my eye in regards to Bochum's season is, their ability to grind up results against opponents which are of better calibre than them. Marcel Koller's side have always been seen as what I call the 'third team' in the Rhur region after their more well-known neighbours Schalke and Borussia Dortmund. It is always a big deal whenever Schalke and Dortmund face each other because it is the mother of all footballing derbies in Germany. But who will battle an eyelid when either Schalke or Dortmund are playing Bochum?
But when Schalke once rolled into town, Bochum did the unthinkable. 2-1, to Bochum. If that is not surprising at least to me considering I was half-expecting Schalke to win it instead...and it might be considered a drab match, but Bochum had indirectly almost ended Bayer Leverkusen's European ambitions when they were away at their opponent's temporary home at Duesseldorf. A very plucky result, from my view. The main talking points after that match was not Bochum getting a point, but rather about is this the beginning of the end of Bayer Leverkusen's European ambitions.
It is actually rather commendable that at one time during the current off-season, Bochum's Swiss coach Marcel Koller was actually being linked with a move back to his native country to coach FC Basel. But if one go back to the winter break, there was reports that Koller and his soon-to-be former club captain Tomasz Zdebel had fallen out. Then days later, Zdebel headed to of all places, Bayer Leverkusen. The signs of how Zdebel meant to Bochum fans was evident when the season resumed with fans issuing placards in support of their former captain. It may be a pity but till now...I still cannot really figure out why Zdebel head to Bayer Leverkusen.
My father is the last person you would expect be talking about German football (because he does not watch Bundesliga matches anyway, unless he happen to see me watching it) but, I was once surprised when I was watching a feature of Borussia Monechengladbach and its glory days in the 70s, he casually mentioned that the club used to be the best in Germany. When I pressed him further, he remembered reading in the newspapers (this was still in his student days) that when Liverpool was dominating English football, it was 'Gladbach doing so in Germany. I was amazed. Considering when Liverpool was punching above its weight especially in the 70s, they once met 'Gladbach in Europe. What had happened since?
When Borussia Moenchengladbach was promoted alongside Cologne and Hoffenheim, 'Gladbach actually did so in style with how they played their football when they were in the second division. There were plenty of hopes when Jos Luhukay was the coach. But the tide soon turned against the club and the Dutchman. He eventually became the first coaching casaulty in the league (he's currently now coaching second division side FC Augsburg). So in came a familar face in the history of the club in veteran coach Hans Meyer. Meyer was always good for a quotable quote, and even upon his return from retirement, he had never lost his sense of humour when speaking to the media. Though there was once, Meyer got really annoyed at the media for how they had been writing about the club. What was seen as a source of tension during Meyer's time at the club: Marko Marin. The press took upon the chance that he does not always play the youngster who had been seen as one for the future of the German national team as him having frictions with the talented youngster. Or rather, it is the case with the tabloids taking issue with that. Marko Marin is actually a joy to watch. In fact for a period of time when Borussia Moenchengladbach was getting results which steered them clear from the relegation zone (it began with their shock home win against Hamburg), he and Bayern Munich-bound Alexander Baumjohann were seen as symbols of the revival at 'Gladbach.
While it was already known during the season itself that Alexander Baumjohann will be off to the Bavarian capital (he was initially booed by his fans at 'Gladbach, and it was almost having shades of when a certain Lothar Matthaeus went from 'Gladbach to Bayern Munich), the future surrounding Marko Marin...it is still unclear. From once being linked to Hamburg, to him actually being linked to of all clubs...Hamburg's most fiercest rivals Werder Bremen. Shortly before Marin is currently part of the Germany U-21 squad in Sweden for the European U-21 Championships, he had stated clearly that he wants to join Werder Bremen. Now that remains to be seen as to whether he will be team-mates with his fellow Germany U-21 team-mate Mesut Özil at club level as well...because as I am typing this, nothing has been confirmed yet. But even with Borussia Monechengladbach escaping relegation on the final day doing with their own version of the 'great escape', Marin still wants to leave the club even with ex-'Gladbach player Michael Frontzeck had already been installed as Hans Meyer's succesor. The reason for Meyer's departure even if he had led the club to safety? The veteran coach who will be 67 later this year, had felt that the club needed someone younger to lead the club forward, not someone like him.
It is kind of a pity that Energie Cottbus got relegated by the re-introduction of the play-offs (it is a two-legged one, something like what we see in the Champions League knock-out rounds, apart from the final). It has been re-introduced into German football after almost two decades of absence. And from the Bundesliga perspective, the club which ranked 16th on the final matchday will face the third-best club from the second division in order to decide which will be the 18th and final club for the next Bundesliga season. That third-best club from the second division is Nuremberg. While Nuremberg still enjoy their cult status in German football, it will be pity if one is talking about football from the former East Germany perspective. There will be no representatives from the former East Germany next season in the Bundesliga, after Cottbus's relegation.
Like each time Energie Cottbus is in the top-flight, they are always among the favourites for the drop. No surprises in what was their third and eventual final season, the pundits point them as among those for the drop at the end of the season. For a period of time this season, I was actually surprised at how come their home stadium (the name itself can be rather misleading for visiting teams) of Stadion der Freundschaft (Stadium of Friendship, in German),was not like a fortress like it was in the previous season (given their home record was among the reasons why they maintained their league status then). Then they start to conjure amazing results. Like when they beat Werder Bremen 2-1. But nobody predicted that they would beat the eventual league champions Wolfsburg 2-0 at home. And this was when Wolfsburg was on a roll themselves.
But unfortunately, even with their 3-0 home win against Bayer Leverkusen on the final matchday of the season and they lived to see another day with the play-offs upon them, coach Bojan Prasnikar decided to take his leave. The club announced the Slovenian's decision after Cottbus's 3-0 loss in the first-leg of the play-off against Nuremberg (it was 2-0 in the second-leg, also to Nuremberg). Since then, Claus-Dieter Wollitz is his successor.
The second season syndrome did eventually caught up with Karlsruhe. While the lack of goals caught up with them, they did had their fair share of glory moments as well. What I typed in my first part of the review of the Bundesliga season - It was amazing Karlsruhe's Sebastian Lampkamp who was saying after his side's unexpected win over Bayer Leverkusen that he was only thinking about clearing the ball off the line. Because his attempt resulted in this. That actually ended Karlsruhe's winless streak which had been going on like forever. What is clear though from the Bayer Leverkusen's perspective at that time, sporting director Rudi Voeller was not a happy man after the match (given that came in the wake of Leverkusen through to the DFB-Pokal final).
To be honest, I can never get tired by just being amazed each time I replay how the goal came into being. A cliche but, it can be amazing how football can do to you sometimes. Throwing up unexpected surprises. While everyone can talk about the goal which Wolfsburg's Grafite scored against Bayern Munich in the eventual famous 5-1 scoreline with even that declared in the German media as 'Goal of the Year', for me...I thought Sebastian Lampkamp's unexpected goal against Bayer Leverkusen should deserve a shout-out too. Even if Karlsruhe eventually got releated, they did so in style. Giving Hertha Berlin a 4-0 thrashing at home on the final matchday. Not enough to save themselves, but still. And coach Edmund Becker is still around, despite already even before the final matchday...the fans were already angry with him and the club board for the state the club is in.
If being given the sack after being handed a 6-0 thrashing is a sense of deja vu from the Arminia Bielefeld's perspective (considering Ernst Middendorp once suffered that fate), that was what Michael Frontzeck suffered that after his side were being handed that thrashing away at Borussia Dortmund on the second-last matchday of the season. 'Fireman' Jorg Berger was actually roped in to at least lead the club into a play-off spot. But on the final matchday against Hannover, due to results from elsewhere...that was it. That was the first, and the last match for Berger at the club.
Like Karlsruhe, the lack of goals eventually cost them. Though one can argue they have Artur Wichniarek up front. The last I know, he had been linked with a move back to his former club Hertha Berlin. And Arminia Bielefeld still have not gotten themselves a permanent coach yet ahead of their time in the second division.
There were the apparent boardroom squabbles at Hertha Berlin which led to Dieter Hoeness being released of his contract by a year early, and even Hamburg chairman Bernd Hoffmann's future at one time was actually up in the air in this season. Inspired by US president Barack Obama, there was actually a group of Hamburg fans who wanted Hoffmann out. They wanted change. Their argument? It is the case of commercialisation. Hamburg's AGM (Annual General Meeting) attracted plenty of media attention, whom were hoping to see if there was any momental change. In the end, Hoffmann retained his post...in a landslide vote. Hamburg's situation is a perfect case-study that even despite with all the commercialisation, there will always be fans who scorned at the thought of clubs operating like how they are generally seen in England with the Premier League.
Hoffenheim will probably still get its fair share of the jeers next season even if they have neutrals who like how they play their football, but the number of new coaches for next season (whether is it returning ones or not)...it will make the next season in the Bundesliga interesting in more ways than one. Especially with Louis van Gaal at Bayern Munich. But then again, it is Bayern. The Juergen Klinsmann experience had left the league feeling scarred about hiring a young coach, even if Barcelona had proved that it is possible. Cologne, Hamburg will be having young coaches for the next season.
Always never a dull day in the Bundesliga, no? I can only hope that is the case again when the season resume. Auf wiedersehen!
