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A club hangs its head.
Werder has to relegate
Photo: nordphoto GmbH / Kokenge / imago images / Nordphoto
When Werder Bremen returned to the Bundesliga in 1981 after a year in the 2nd division, Otto Rehhagel's first opponent was Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The game ended 2: 4 at Bökelberg, an overwhelming victory for Werder. On the sidelines, the 20-year-old youngster Thomas Schaaf watched Bremen's triumphant rebirth in the Bundesliga on the bench.
Weser renaissance.
40 years later, Schaaf had to watch as his Bremen team made their last Bundesliga game for the time being against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Output 2: 4th
Sometimes football also has its moments of cruel irony.
In the 40 years between these two Gladbach games, Werder Bremen shaped the Bundesliga, the club even dominated it once, it gave fans unforgettable football evenings, it produced types without end, big names played in the Weserstadion, it Championships were celebrated, European Cup victories.
Error after error
One cannot imagine that this club will no longer be part of the Bundesliga in the next season.
But that's how it is.
At this moment it should not be a matter of coldly determining how things were gradually going down with Werder, how incorrect purchases, mismanagement, complacency, incorrect squad planning have brought the club into sporting and financial difficulties, such as sometimes dramatic wrong decisions by the management ultimately relegated made inescapable. At some point it would have happened anyway, now it has happened. Much has already been written about this, and a lot will be analyzed in the next few days and weeks. Sometimes you can just be sad.
With Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen, two clubs that are close to their hearts are relegated from the Bundesliga.
Associations that are inextricably linked to their cities are part of the regional identity.
Schalke is Gelsenkirchen.
Werder is Bremen.
Yes, of course, they deserve to relegate, both of them, as they have presented themselves in the past few years, have put one mistake after another, they screwed up a lot of crap.
But that only makes it sadder.
Kugelblitz, East Frisian Alemao
Werder Bremen, Kutzop's penalty, Otto, the first, accompanied by the enthusiasm of ZDF fanboy Rolf Töpperwien, Manni Burgsmüller and Uwe Reinders, the Schlitzohren, the 40-year-old Klaus Fichtel and Mirko Votava, the goal scorers Rudi Völler, Miroslav Klose, Bernd Hobsch and Karlheinz Riedle, Max Kruse, the casual one, Johan Micoud, oh, yes, especially he, the gentle magician, the paper ball in the Volkspark, Dieter Eilts, the Ostfriesen-Alemão, what a nickname. Mesut Özil and Per Mertesacker, the world champions, not to be forgotten when talking about world champions: Günther Hermann. Tim Wiese in pink, Willi Lemke versus Uli Hoeneß, Ailton, the ball lightning, Mario Basler, oh, yes, Rune Bratseth, there was never again such a number four in this jersey. One could fill the whole internet with this list.Every second professional of yore now feels like walking around with the label club legend. Wynton Rufer. WYNTON RUFER.
Werder Bremen is the club that also reminds you of how the Bundesliga used to be: title fights down to the knife, rivalry, variety in the championship fight, teams that had to give up the championship on the last day of the game, who could keep up with the big Bavarians until the end.
The title duel in 1986 would probably have really inspired the millions in China, just as the DFL marketing experts are dreaming of today.
Football shipyard dying
All that is past, over, green and white romance, the dying of football in the shipyard, a romance that is partly to blame for the decline, because the club management has relied on Werder genetics over and over again. Werder is so on the ground, athletic, economical, mental. Also promoted down to a second league, which can be a snake pit for Werder. Full of clubs that carry tradition around with them and that is one of the reasons why they all want to get to the top as quickly as possible. Schalke, HSV, Hanover, Nuremberg, Düsseldorf, KSC, Dresden, Sankt Pauli. Maybe Cologne will be added. The fact that there will be many northern derbies in the coming season is very little consolation, but it is at least one.
In view of this competition, in view of the whole ailing situation, it would be a small miracle if Werder immediately rose again.
But Werder Bremen was responsible for the famous miracles on the Weser.
A club that works wonders for its fans.
That's wonderful.
The Bundesliga needs miracles.
