Hey Guys, I have been gone awhile-Any Help for a Schalke fan?

[Torretta13]

....I don't know if ya'll remember me or not, but I was new to the board over the summer and I asked for some guidance. I appreciate all of the responses that I received. I was going to try to follow the Bundesliga for the first time this season, but I had a lot of things come up and was unable to follow as closely as I would have liked. I am a Schalke 04 fan, so I would appreciate it if any Schalke fans who lurk on the board could provide me with a quick synopsis of what has been going on so far this season. I know there is a Schalke season thread, but most of the posts seem to in game reactions to certain plays in certain matches. If there are any Bundesliga or Schalke fans on the board who could just bring me up to date with what I have missed thus far in the Bundesliga season, I would greately appreciate it. Thanks.

[Doc_Aeppler]

Well, how do I say this best... I think being a Schalke Fan you havent really missed anything thus far... :cool:

As for the rest:
Hoffenheim have bought their way into the top ranks of the Bundesliga.
Bayern sucked in the beginning but is catching up.
Dortmund has a fairly strong season.
Bremen sucks bigtime this season.
Cologne will soon be renamned in FC Podolski.
And the bottom 5 teams are probably the worst in severall years.

I think that sums it up...

[210597]

Schalke have looked really dire, no creativity in their play and no heart either.

- Engelaar has proven to be slow as hell;
- Kuranyi has kept up the pace in missing easy chances and seems to have infected Farfán;
- Varela and Grossmüller are suspended over indisciplined behavior in practice;
- Rafinha still hasn't paid his EUR 700,000 fine;
- Höwedes is the revelation of this season with great games at center back, he just signed until 2014;
- Westermann had to help out in all positions, even midfield, early on, and went on a torrid scoring run in fall, though he's cooled off recently;
- Løvenkrands and Streit still aren't getting any chances to play and want out;
- Pander has shown some defensive weaknesses;
- Bordon has been pretty solid, Krstajic has more or less resigned himself to coming off the bench;
- Asamoah doesn't play much of a role usually anymore, though he's come on a bit more in the last few weeks and actually scored the winner v Berlin.

Andi Müller's head has been openly on the chopping block for the team's uninspired and lackluster play. The UEFA Cup campaign is all but over after consecutive losses to Manchester City and at FC Twente. In the DFB-Pokal, they've reached the round of 16 and will travel to Carl Zeiss Jena in January.

[The Old Lady Hertha]

They need a center mid and a striker badly. I won't even entertain the thought of Pantelic going to Schalke though :mad:

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

All you need to know is that this will NOT be the year when Schalke wins a title.

[Catfish]

As for the rest:
Hoffenheim have bought their way into the top ranks of the Bundesliga.
Bayern sucked in the beginning but is catching up.
Dortmund has a fairly strong season.
Bremen sucks bigtime this season.
Cologne will soon be renamned in FC Podolski.
And the bottom 5 teams are probably the worst in severall years.
I think that sums it up...
Fantastic summary, but I would slightly
change your assessment of Werder. I think
the have the quality to get a European spot,
but must say they have greatly underachieved
this season, so far.

[Rainer24]

Well, how do I say this best... I think being a Schalke Fan you havent really missed anything thus far... :cool:

As for the rest:
Hoffenheim have bought their way into the top ranks of the Bundesliga.
Bayern sucked in the beginning but is catching up.
Dortmund has a fairly strong season.
Bremen sucks bigtime this season.
Cologne will soon be renamned in FC Podolski.
And the bottom 5 teams are probably the worst in severall years.

I think that sums it up...


Hoffenheim's most expensive player cost € 8 million, and nobody else on the squad cost anything near that. I think people are really buying into all the angry rhetoric spewed by Hoeneß a bit too much. Hoffenheim bought themselves out of purely amateur status, but they are where they due to solid scouting and good management. I am no Hoffenheim supporter, but it would really be unfortunate if everyone simply accepted all the propaganda being shoved down their throats by FC Hollywood and Springer Klopapier. Hoffenheim has spent a lot of money compared to the teams they used to play against, not the ones they are drubbing on a regular basis this year. What is the problem?

[Doc_Aeppler]

Hoffenheim's most expensive player cost € 8 million, and nobody else on the squad cost anything near that. I think people are really buying into all the angry rhetoric spewed by Hoeneß a bit too much. Hoffenheim bought themselves out of purely amateur status, but they are where they due to solid scouting and good management. I am no Hoffenheim supporter, but it would really be unfortunate if everyone simply accepted all the propaganda being shoved down their throats by FC Hollywood and Springer Klopapier. Hoffenheim has spent a lot of money compared to the teams they used to play against, not the ones they are drubbing on a regular basis this year. What is the problem?

Bla bla we've had it all...

Only Bayern has a bigger transfer-deficite over the last 3 years. (and Bayern had been saving up for years before and plays CL regularly)
Hoffenheims transferdeficite over that timespan is -30 Million!

Only Hoffenheim and Cotbus havnt yet fielded a single player that came out of their own youthteams.

How many other clubs have been able to sign a player for 8 million in the past? The Bundesliga is not the Premier League or Serie A.

[Rainer24]

Bla bla we've had it all...

Only Bayern has a bigger transfer-deficite over the last 3 years. (and Bayern had been saving up for years before and plays CL regularly)
Hoffenheims transferdeficite over that timespan is -30 Million!

Only Hoffenheim and Cotbus havnt yet fielded a single player that came out of their own youthteams.

How many other clubs have been able to sign a player for 8 million in the past? The Bundesliga is not the Premier League or Serie A.



Yeah, they have spent that much because they had the most work to do as far building a BL1 level squad. I don't understand all the criticism. Of course they have had a transfer deficit. A team coming from those low level leagues typically doesn't have any players that other teams are going to shell out for. You don't think they are going to have some massive positive entries in their balance sheets when they sell Ibisevic, Weis, Eduardo, Ba, etc?

[Doc_Aeppler]

A team coming from those low level leagues typically doesn't have any players that other teams are going to shell out for.

I guess thats why teams coming from a low level usually dont buy players for a shitload of money, but instead have to actually build up a team and maybe throw in some of their own youth players... :rolleyes:

[Rainer24]

I guess thats why teams coming from a low level usually dont buy players for a shitload of money, but instead have to actually build up a team and maybe throw in some of their own youth players... :rolleyes:


A team coming from where they were a few years ago often doesn't even have a youth team.

Ibisevic and and Demba Ba cost them a combined € 2.5 million, but you're right, they're just outspending everyone.

Their starters are largely castoffs from other teams, some of them not even wanted by the youth teams. Half their starters came ouf of the Stuttgart academy, and on free transfers to boot. Once again, I think this idea of their having simply bought success is largely a product of the Bayern-Bild propaganda machine.

These negative reactions just show what kind of jealousy success really breeds.

[arvin sloane]

http://eca-world.de/ECA-Daten/Banner_SP_Hoffenheim.gif :D

["Eisenfuß" Eilts]

You don't think they are going to have some massive positive entries in their balance sheets when they sell Ibisevic, Weis, Eduardo, Ba, etc?

They won´t sell them in the near future. The only thing other clubs can do
is rising their costs with bidding for their players.


Hoffenheims transferdeficite over that timespan is -30 Million!


The transfer deficit is big, but peanuts compared with their investments
in infrastructure. It´s about 200 million € Hopp pumped into the last 5 years
into the team.

Hopp did the same as normal PC football manager player do:
1. improve your scouts
2. improve your infrasture
3. improve your coaching staff
4. get young talents
5. make your talents better with the improved coaching staff

The project is like a real world football manager with unlimited cash.
It´s an interesting project, but as at your PC it becomes boring if
you have no financial restrictions.

I find clubs more interesting, that doesn´t have the big bills,
but make a lot of it. In this context i have a lot of respect
for Energie Cottbus management (not the club), who have nearly
no money and somehow manage it to field a team, that has
the chance to avoid relegation from season to season.

[Doc_Aeppler]

A team coming from where they were a few years ago often doesn't even have a youth team.

Dude, almost every freakin Kreisliga-Club has youthteams.
Thats what a football club is actually about...

Ibisevic and and Demba Ba cost them a combined € 2.5 million, but you're right, they're just outspending everyone.

Knowing that this is not the most reliable source ever, but according to transfermarkt.de Ba cost them 4million and Ibisevic another 1 million.
Those 4 million € for Ba are more then for example Eintracht Frankfurt has EVER spent on one player... just to get this into perspective.

No one is arguing that they spent their money wisely.

But on the other hand you cant argue that they have spent more money the last 3 years then at least 12 out of the 18 Bundesliga clubs could have possibly afforded to.

In other words, they bought their way into the top of the Bundesliga.

Simple as that. No miracle. Just money.

These negative reactions just show what kind of jealousy success really breeds.

That can only come from a Hoffenheimfan running out of arguments or someone who has no clue what football means to some people...

If I was jealous, what on earth would keep me from just being a Hoffenheim fan?!


Whatever, no need to discuss it all again. Im out of this thread.

[Rainer24]

Dude, almost every freakin Kreisliga-Club has youthteams.
Thats what a football club is actually about...



Knowing that this is not the most reliable source ever, but according to transfermarkt.de Ba cost them 4million and Ibisevic another 1 million.
Those 4 million € for Ba are more then for example Eintracht Frankfurt has EVER spent on one player... just to get this into perspective.

No one is arguing that they spent their money wisely.

But on the other hand you cant argue that they have spent more money the last 3 years then at least 12 out of the 18 Bundesliga clubs could have possibly afforded to.

In other words, they bought their way into the top of the Bundesliga.

Simple as that. No miracle. Just money.



That can only come from a Hoffenheimfan running out of arguments or someone who has no clue what football means to some people...

If I was jealous, what on earth would keep me from just being a Hoffenheim fan?!


Whatever, no need to discuss it all again. Im out of this thread.


I am aware that even amateur-level teams have youth squads, but I just don't think it is particularly reasonable to expect them to have had players dating back to those days who are actually good enough to make this leap, or at least not enough of them. I really don't see what the problem is. They have spent some money, but not by bullying others on the transfer market. Most of it has been spent on infrastructure like coaching and scouting and it has paid dividends and I don't have a problem with that. You obviously do, which is fine.

Transfermarkt.de lists him moving from Excelsior for € 3 million. I could have sworn that I had read in a slightly more substantial source like the SZ that they got him for 1.5, but maybe I am thinking of someone else. In any event, that is not a price that most BL sides couldn't have afforded, had they bothered to really evaluate him. I think Hoffenheim have just worked harder is that area of development and don't understand why so many people resent it.

[hackespitze123]

http://eca-world.de/ECA-Daten/Banner_SP_Hoffenheim.gif :D


LOL.....mean, but funny.