German Cup Winners Stare Relegation in the Face

Sophie Kraus

When Horst Leupold left the pitch after the season’s last match against 1. FC Cologne in 1969, a photographer caught the defender crying and barely able to control himself. With their poor performance the German champions had truly disappointed their ambitious fans and the 0:3 defeat against Cologne was the final step towards Nuremberg’s relegation one year after the Club lifted the German trophy for the ninth time.

Unfortunately this notorious season seems all too familiar for fans of the Bavarian club today. After seeing off Stuttgart, who had been crowned the German champions only one week earlier, in the final of the German Cup in 2007 and finishing the league in 6th place, Nuremberg surprisingly finds itself today in the bottom three of the table and faces relegation once again.

Is history repeating itself? Fans in the street of the Franconian capital are certainly having a sense of deja-vue, but despite a meagre 18 points in 23 games and only another eleven matches to go, Horst Leupold remains optimistic: “Today’s team has far more potential than our squad in the 1960s and they will definitely stay in the Bundesliga.”

However, statistics tell you otherwise: For three months, the team has failed to win a single Bundesliga game and lost three of the first six matches in the second half of the season. After a further stalemate against Hamburg last Sunday, ‘der Club’ is now two points from safety and newly signed coach Thomas von Heesen has still not managed to lead his team to one 3-point victory. Nuremberg’s relegation, it seems, could certainly be a safe bet this year.

When outsider Nuremberg defeated Stuttgart in Berlin’s sold-out Olympiastadion nearly one year ago, their forty-years’ phase of mediocre play without a single title had finally come to an end. But despite the sudden euphoria and newly found self-esteem that immediately swamped the Franconian city, Hans Meyer, the first East German coach ever to win the trophy, tried to calm down supporters’ high expectations for the forthcoming season. In an interview with German sports magazine ‘Kicker’ in August 2007, Meyer kept his feet firmly on the ground: “My expectations are far more realistic. We are still no top team.”

How right he was. Despite an early win over Rostock, who had been promoted from the second tier, Nuremberg’s performances in the first half of the season looked grim from the start and even a 5:1 demolition of Frankfurt could not change the fact that the first round of the German Championship ended in a disappointing 16th place with just 15 points. 

Still, relegation seemed far away: Across the country, the squad’s abilities were regarded as far superior to many of the smaller teams and demotion was not taken too seriously. A good start to the second half of the season, it appeared, would suffice to secure a place in the middle of the table. Even after a long winter break, however, the team have so far failed to deliver and are still waiting for a life-saving victory.

What is to blame for this sudden collapse in level of play? The increased expectations created by last summer’s victorious atmosphere certainly played a substantial role in Nuremberg’s swift decline and the fans’ lack of support leading to apparent disgruntlement with the team’s performances did not help to repair their damaged self-esteem. Although Jaromír Blažek admitted some considerable mistakes in a number of matches, it is not surprising that the Czech keeper’s insecurity has reached record levels after leaving the pitch accompanied to a chorus of whistles and boos.  

What is more, the club, used to a safe mid-table place, suddenly saw itself participating in the UEFA Cup with fiercer competition and a more intense match schedule. Although Nuremberg impressively managed to reach the first knockout stage the constant strain on the team showed and eventually took its toll in the Bundesliga.  

The financial strategy of the club did not make much sense either, especially with an additional European tournament at hand. Of course it would be silly to seriously compare Nuremberg with Germany’s leading teams - despite last year’s glorious victory and two good Bundesliga finishes in a row. Unlike Bayern Munich, Schalke, Leverkusen or Dortmund, the Franconian club’s financial power is obviously limited, obliging the management to spend less on only a small number of new signings. But despite the considerable cash boost that resulted from the German Cup win, Nuremberg’s bosses invested nowhere near as much as clubs of comparable size.

Take Hanover 96 for example, who finished in 11th place in the Bundesliga last year and spent €9,300,000 on six players for the new season, with the highest fee amounting to €4,500,000 for 24 year old striker Mike Hanke. After signing the likes of Jaromír Blažek, Javier Pinola, Angelos Charisteas together with Jan Koller’s transfer from AS Monaco in January 2008, Nuremberg, however, have spent little more than €5.400.000 (nearly €4 million less than Hannover 96), leaving the club with a staggering transfer window profit of €950.000* - a rare occasion for a German club and arguably a somehow insufficient strategy when considering that the team had to face European giants like Benfica in addition to their already tight Bundesliga schedule. 

Looking at the numbers, it does not really come as a great surprise to find Hanover in a comfortable mid-table position, while Nuremberg struggle to maintain their Bundesliga status.

After 20 match days, the threat of the lower league has finally hit home. Two additional signings, defender Jacques Abardonado (€200,000) and Czech striker Jan Koller (€1.000.000), have joined the team and with the overdue arrival of coach Thomas von Heesen on 12th February 2008, hope is on the agenda once again.

Although Koller has only scored once in his first five Bundesliga games and was suspended for the Hamburg game for spitting at an opponent, the striker and his Czech colleagues Blažek and Galasek, the team’s captain, form a trio that might well find its strength under the guidance of the new coach in the forthcoming games.

With additional secret training sessions and workouts occuring with greater frequency and intensity, von Heesen certainly thrives in bringing the best out of his players. “It’s important that we start to think differently.“, the coach said in a recent interview. “We need to be confident, we need to have the absolute winner gene. We want to beat Hamburg and we also want to beat Leverkusen. That’s a start. The question is how much time the team will need to realise this.“

For many, the 0:0 draw against Hamburg in last weekend’s game is yet another step into the wrong direction though and proof that von Heesen’s strategy has been adopted a tad too late.

Whether ’der Club’ can win their looming relegation battle remains to be seen, but perhaps the last word should go to captain Tomas Galasek: “We mustn’t let the club down and must fight to the very last moment, so we can stay in the Bundesliga.“

 

*see www.transfermarkt.de 

Horst Leupold photo from Bausenwein u.a.: Die Legende vom Club