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Reality Bites For Hamburg And Bremen In The Bundesliga

Reality Bites For Hamburg And Bremen In The Bundesliga

21.11.2014 12:44

No other Bundesliga match-up has churned out more draws. But, something has to give on Sunday, as early relegation candidates, HSV and Werder Bremen go head-to-head in Hamburg. Five years ago, Hamburg and Werder Bremen, two of Germany's most traditional football clubs competed four times in 19 days. The zenith of that rip-roaring spell was the UEFA Cup semi-final. You read right: the UEFA Cup. It seems hard to believe now. The second-leg of that fixture was actually defined by the width of a paper cup. Michael Gravgaard lost control of the ball comically as the ball trundled over a cup which had landed on the pitch, and Bremen scored the decisive goal from the resulting corner-kick. That moment is, perhaps, more symbolic in modern times: it was the beginning of a momentous decline for both teams from Germany's north. Since then the two north German clubs have struggled in the Bundesliga, regularly battling relegation at times, and generally never challenging for the top spots. On Sunda

No other Bundesliga match-up has churned out more draws. But, something has to give on Sunday, as early relegation candidates, HSV and Werder Bremen go head-to-head in Hamburg.

Five years ago, Hamburg and Werder Bremen, two of Germany's most traditional football clubs competed four times in 19 days. The zenith of that rip-roaring spell was the UEFA Cup semi-final. You read right: the UEFA Cup. It seems hard to believe now.



The second-leg of that fixture was actually defined by the width of a paper cup. Michael Gravgaard lost control of the ball comically as the ball trundled over a cup which had landed on the pitch, and Bremen scored the decisive goal from the resulting corner-kick. That moment is, perhaps, more symbolic in modern times: it was the beginning of a momentous decline for both teams from Germany's north.



Since then the two north German clubs have struggled in the Bundesliga, regularly battling relegation at times, and generally never challenging for the top spots. On Sunday, the sides meet for the first time this season in what can be described in clichéd football terms as a relegation "six-pointer" with the two teams occupying spots in the bottom-three.



However, the changes in the coaching staff of both teams have boosted hopes of avoiding the relegation battle altogether. Werder's Viktor Skripnik is unbeaten in three games since taking over from Robin Dutt, while Josef Zinnbauer has steadied the Hamburg ship after the dismissal of Mirko Slomka last month.



Changing faces at the Imtech-Arena



Behind the scenes though, Hamburg are a club that is virtually unrecognizable from previous years. The club's football operations were spun-off to a new company with the aim of attracting fresh investment, while there have been changes across the board from CEO Dietmar Beiersdorfer to sporting director Peter Knäbel and new coach Zinnbauer, the former boss of the U23 team.



Hamburg's rapid downfall can be traced back to around 2009. Former Chelsea youth development guru Frank Arnesen became the club's sporting director and started making major changes in the short-term.



In what seemed to be a cost-cutting exercise, the Dane shipped out experienced players like Frank Rost, Joris Mathijsen, Ze Roberto and Ruud van Nistelrooy, the backbone of the previous season, replacing them with a clutch of Chelsea reserve players, all of whom had yet to make strides in the first-team at Stamford Bridge.



It would be rash to suggest that Arnesen is the sole protagonist in this downfall story, but if anything, the former sporting director seemed to accelerate the downsizing. Hamburg avoided relegation that season by just five points.



The team, under the guidance of Thorsten Fink, reached a respectable eighth in the following season with Heung-Min Son and Artjoms Rudnevs scoring 24 goals between them in the league. Cracks remained though. Fink was sacked, Bert van Marwijk lasted less than a full season, while Slomka would stay in the job for just seven months.



Now, Hamburg look to be edging closer to fulfilling the potential of the new additions, funded by a 25 million euro ($31.36 million) loan by businessman Klaus-Michael Kühne at the start of the season. Nicolai Müller, Lewis Holtby and Valon Behrami all were enticed to the club, as HSV took their overall debts - between previous company and new - to over 100 million euros.



Tight pockets in Bremen



Contrastingly, finances have been a real worry to Werder Bremen in that time. The absence of regular appearances in the Champions League has nibbled away whatever resources the club had preserved from the last decade.



Over the last four seasons, Werder have counted 25 percent less annual revenue, the total figure falling more than 40 million euro below the Bundesliga average. The club's bank balance, previously topped up by regular forays into Europe's most lucrative club competitions, will probably have diminished by the end of the season.



The ripple affect goes on and on: personnel costs have been slashed by more than 20 million euro; less investment has been made in the transfer market; thus, there have been fewer big names on the pitch. But that simple equation doesn't exclude the club's management from the blame.



The tenure of sporting director Thomas Eichin from December 2012 has been sorely lacking successful transfers. Even Kevin de Bruyne, one of the club's biggest coups, has since moved on to Wolfsburg.



The protracted interest in Bryan Ruiz, however, might just get over the line in January. Ruiz, whenever the Bremen board decides to stump up the cash to buy him, could be the game-changer come the end of the season.



The dreaded drop



Relegation is out of the question for both teams. The tremors of a season outside of Germany's top division would send deep shockwaves around both former Hanseatic cities. This is especially the case in Hamburg, a club which has committed itself to some big contracts this season.



Broadcasting money could fall anywhere in the region of 15-25 million euros and notwithstanding for subsidized investment, 50 percent would be chiseled off the playing budget.



"I also believe that relegation would be the biggest catastrophe imaginable," said one of several new additions to Bremen's supervisory board, Marco Bode, recently. "The first objective has to be to prevent that."



There's no doubt about it, whichever side you are supporting: this Sunday will be one of the most important northern derbies of recent times.



DW will provide full live coverage of all Bundesliga games this weekend, at www.dw.de/sports.





 
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