If that was the case, we wouldn't have the smallest budget of the league for three years in a row now... Neuhaus drew similar numbers to our current ones in the eighties in 2nd division. But unless you had huge success in the past, attendances will obviously always be mainly dependant upon the level of play. But whatever, just go on pretending to know stuff about clubs you actually know nothing about...
"Pumping money into a club" is a relative thing. The club is dependent on a single sponsor and couldn't stay at this level on it's own. Ahlen or Sandhausen are other clubs brought onto the map by a sponsor recently, and neither ever had Wolfsburg like budgets. It's also worth noting that, prior to their last relegation from the 2nd Bundesliga and the sponsor's (temporary) partial withdrawal Paderborn had pretty ok budgets by 2nd Bundesliga standards. They played one single season in the 2nd Bundesliga, during which they drew almost exactly half of today's attendance numbers. This wasn't bad by the standards of the time, actually - but it was pretty much a novelty in the club's history. Back in the 4 tiered Regionalliga in the 1990s Paderborn averaged attendances significantly below the league average, and less than clubs like Elversberg, Altmark Stendal, TuS Celle or VfL Halle. Will do, thanks for the heads up!
Yay, after two unlucky losses I approve of beating Fürth. Who am I kidding? I approve of beating everyone, and their F youth squads too if needed. Anyway, a slight change in formation - to 4-4-2 (although this isn't co pletely new, last year in the cup against Fürth they actually played the same formation as well) - that worked out quite well. I'm impressed with the defense. The (small) problem lately had been the offense anyway, and they came back with three nicely done goals (Fürth's defense didn't try too hard to stop them, but three nice plays nevertheless). Kruppke is now just 7 goals away from breaking into Eintracht's all time top ten goal scorers list.
Boland extended his contract for two years - which is good, especially as he was one of the players rumored to be wanted by some 1st Bundesliga clubs. Also: Eintracht's new fan store in the city center will open this weekend. There's a lot of infrastructure work done recently.
Eintracht just shouldn't play home games against Union *sigh*. I have a good feeling for the Duisbug game, though - if they win that one, and say one of the others before the break it will be almost 100% sure that they'll stay up. A (hypothetical) 12 points in the second half of the season (to get to 40 points) should be reachable.
Yesterday there was a friendly against Werder's remaining players. Eintracht won 2:1, both goals by trialist Edwini-Bonsu, who's still here. I'm pretty sure he'll get an offer. What really sucks - Henn with a ACL in the game... at least it's not that bfar from the winter break, and Dogan is fit again... still, really sucks.
Last game kind of sucked. Red card for Kessel, early injury for Vrancic, 0:3 against a rather mediocre Duisburg. The main problem is, that the bench players mostly aren't of 2nd Bundesliga quality. That's not all that surprising - as I said, the team is almost identical to last year's (although the only signing from a 2nd Bundesliga team, Petersch, has been kind of a let-down so far), and all in all still decent enough. Randy Edwini-Bonsu is now finally reported as a signing for after the winter break - hopefully he can keep his friendly from for the league games. The striker position is kind of a weakness beyond Kumbela. Merkel and Korte aren't ready yet (jumping from the 5th into the 2nd division, as both did, isn't all that easy, though - I still expect to see more from them in the future), and Fetsch unfortunately might not be up to it. To be fair, he still has mostly sub appearances, so his time was limited (and he had some nice chances early on, unfortunately without scoring). Another option will be quite good, especially if Edwini-Bonsu will be as good as his trial promised. One thing I have missed: Eintracht's forum are finally back to being a trollfest. The "Fire/lynch/whatever X" crowd had a hard time lately, but now they can finally complain about something again.
1860 has sucked so bad lately I had not been even looking at the table, but after the last win I finally did and was surprised to see Braunschweig below us!!?? I would have bet you guys were WAY better than we were. Pauli too has fallen down a bit. Dude, that happens in every fan bloc when a drop in form happens. I don't even go into the 1860 fora when we have a drought. Someone will immediately bring up the "I told you [insert name here] sucks...." argument. Frankly, I would rather have a drop in form in the fall than in the spring. Also, if the drop in form coincides with player injuries and/or suspensions it is easier to understand than if you team just suddenly went cold. Chin up. You will have a top 5 finish and will have something to build on. Remember where you were last season and keep building. You will make it to the 1.BL. It will just take more than one season to do it.
Yeah - the Eintracht forums have always been an especially hostile place, though. The utter contempt for everyone - players, coaches, management, other fans - involved with the club shown there has always been something else. The verbal abuse there directed at pretty much everyone - ranging from charcter assasination to racist remarks - kept me from ever registering there. It's actually better now than it was a few years ago - still makes the BS Bayern board look like a MENSA guestbook or something, though. I'm perfectly happy - I don't expect a top 5 finish, actually. More like 10th or so. But I'm fine with that. Promotion this years was never all too realistic anyway, but more importantly - it would have been devastating to the club in the long run. The preparations are under way, but far from ready yet.
It's getting ridiculous... Bohl (possibly another ACL case) and Correia out injured. On the bright side, Eintracht beats Bochum 4:0, and the goals were all pretty nice. Played 4-4-2 again, Kruppke scores twice as a striker (of course he also regularily scores as a winger or as a midfielder - still, I used to have my doubts putting him as striker, but currently it works). Petersch with his first outstanding game for Eintracht. In case some of our Canadian friends are reading here - REB will most likely play as a winger if he gets into the team early. He's the likely Kumbela back up if Eintachts plays 4-1-4-1 (I don't see anyone replacing Kumbela anytime soon), and in a 4-4-2 there's Kruppke (who is no giant, but having two very short players up front, Kumbela and REB, doesn't seem all that great an idea. Plus Kruppke's been on fire for, like, 3 years now). However, there's still no real replacement for Bellarabi, and Edwini-Bonsu seems like a good fit, judgung from his supposed strenghts.
Yes, and now a win at Ingolstadt, YA's official favorites for promotion (sorry - at least I can resist the urge to bump the pre-season arguments there ) Have seen neither the game, nor the highlights, so I don't have any unique insights to share. The defense obviously was kind of improvised, with 4 possible starters missing. But they didn't concede a goal, which is a good sign. 28 points after 17 games - just 12 more from the second half of the season to be ultra save, given how the season has developed so far I'd predict that even 35 or 36 points could be enough for 15th place.
That's a conservative and realistic approach, but being only 7 points back of a potential promotion spot right now has to make you think about a strong second half hehe. Good luck!
I really hope the club stays clear of promotion - which looks likely so far anyway. A winning season, ending somewhere around 6th place, that's what I like to see. Promotion could really ******** up things. The team isn't ready and funds are needed elsewhere right now (the new youth academy to be build next year, stadium renovation etc.). Taking up new debts would be stupid, and if you don't invest in the team a season were you loose most games could kill momentum.
A year of good Eintracht news is crowned by the long overdue return of the classic club logo! Logo change will occur for the 2012/13 season.
Probably. But you could contact Eintracht, maybe they will offer aid for the printing costs of new stickers. The club is making profits now, so one can be generous.
Posted an analysis of the Loewen gg. Loewen game here. I honestly expect a draw. Not confident in *my* Loewen.
So the year ends with a 1:1 versus Aachen (my posts on the 1860 game are buried somewhere in the 1860 thread). Of course two defenders got injured in the game, first Fuchs, and then Kessel, 15 minutes after he was subbed in for Fuchs. At least there's the break now, otherwise they'd run out of players by next month.
So, back from the winter break. First friendly was a 3:2 win against Magdeburg, next up is the camp in Spain (with two friendlies against Wisla Krakow and a Spanish Players Association XI). Paper reports negotiations on a signing of Stuttgart's Ermin Bicakcic, because of the injury situation in defense most likely. I doubt Eintrecht will pay any significant transfer fees, though.
No figure released, but I would guess somewhat btween free or 50k Euros. I can't see the club paying a higher transfer fee for anyone, including Messi and Özil (together of course).
Transfermarkt does not list an amount either but his injury profile scares me a bit. He had some serious injuries in 2011 and the knee injury this summer may be a big reason he did not see any time with VfB II this year, no? Have you seen him play? How decent is he? Reason I ask is that 1860 is in need of a central defender too and his name never came up as far as I know. This may mean he slipped under our radar or it could me we did not see him as a good fit. Given that we have no money to spend either one would think if he was a quality CB he would have been snapped up. Or is he just seen as an emergency buy for you guys?
I wouldn't call him an emergency buy - according to both the club and the player Eintracht wanted to sign him before the season already, but things didn't work out. The reason he was signed now are the injuries though. I haven't seen him play - well, most likely in 3. Liga highlights, but he didn't play often for the reserve so I don't remember him. He's supposed to be a decent defender - and Stuttgart liked him enough to give him a first team contract before the season. Due to a string of injuries he could never establish himself there - but he's still young enough and a relatively low risk signing. If he amkes it great, at the very least he will improve the quality of our bench. And - Correia came from Lautern without a single first team match, despite being part of the first team squad. And he was one of the league's best rated defenders before his injury.