2013/2014 Season Thread [poll]

I hate playing in Stuttgart. Doesn't matter how bad they are at that moment, we will lose anyway. Blech.

 

Fits our season. Luckily Wolfsburg and Leverkusen didn't win today. Need onl a win to secure at least 4th place, and an additional point for third.

Szalai looks like he is coming out of his slump. Still not as good as Huntelaar but should be serviceable.


There are rumours Kola might have an offer by ManUtd. Would hate to lose him but I guess we have to consider offers above 10m.

 

10 million are the starting point. If we qualify for the CL, which looks reasonable, a large chunk of that money would turn instantly into taxes we have to pay. No need to sell him, if the club at the end only gets 6m or so to work with. Kolas contact runs until 2017, he doesn't have a buy out clause as far as I know. ManUtd has to wow us.

 

Feels like we are back to where we were in the first half with all the doubt surrounding Keller and the team.

It does indeed look like the team is tired, at least mentally, but you can't see it in the numbers. They ran more than Gladbach and at a pretty good clip compared to most other games in the season.

 

I sure hope we're getting Tuchel in a year. Doesn't look like he will join Leverkusen so there aren't many options for him to improve in the Bundesliga.

 

Man, I'm glad we won in Freiburg. That was the win we needed. Fourth and qualification for the CL qualification is finally secure. Can't see us losing against Nürnberg at home, which would secure us third place. I doubt there were many who thought that possible in the winter break.

Today is our annual member meeting. There was a lot of bad blood in the build up but it looks like most of the contentious motions were withdrawn and will be discussed in small groups to find a compromise.

Btw Santana sucks. Boy he sucks or at least he sucked in the match. It looked like every pass of his went out or got caught by Freiburg. I will also be glad that Hoogland will leave after this season. I very much appreciate what he did in the last year but he is just not up to our level.

 

I'm not close to the club on any level so I can't give inside scoops. It looked for me like the club leadership was (and is) afraid of a similar takeover as happend in Hamburg. At least that is the only way I undestand why they are doing it. As I wrote I'm not close, so I'm sure I miss things but I never ever felt like that was a real possibility.

There is anger on the fanside especially among the organized ones which accumulated over the last couple of years. The two main reasons are the expensive tickets, I think the most expensive ones in the whole league, and viagogo. But there were also a lot of smaller things which angered the fans, f.e. the club's reaction after the police stormed the Nordkurve in the match against Saloniki or how some motions in last year's member meeting were dismissed by the board so that they couldn't be voted on.

There are basically two groups. On one side is the club and the SFCV. The SFCV is an umbrella organisation for all of Schalke's fan clubs. As such it is, at least by the club, recognized as the official representation of all Schalke fans, f.e. the SFCV has a permanent seat on the club board. The problem is that the SFCV is not independent. A large part of its power and allure comes from their power to distribute tickets. Schalke could of course change at if they want to. Schalke also pays the SFCV money, they wouldn't be able to cover their costs otherwise. Peters, Schalke's CEO, is also a member on the board of the SFCV.
That wasn't a problems as long as everything between the club and the fans was peaches but now that problems arose the fans expected the SFCV to take their sides. Unfortunately they didn't. They accepted rising ticket prices, they accepted viagogo and in general always took the club's side. So some of the bigger fan organisations like the Ultras GE or the Supporters Club left the SFCV. That obviously undermines the SFCV's claim of being the representative of all fans.

Now the opposition tried (or will try) to get more direct influence or at least more board members who look out for them. To do that they have to control the Wahlausschuss, the election board. The election board pre-selects candidates for the board. As they don't have to justify their rulings so it is rather opaque. There were several motions to reform the election board some by the opposition and one by the SFCV. The club started a campaing called Starkes Schalke in which it supported the SFCV, without saying it directly. They just supported the SFCV's motions and the just the candidates for the election board which came from the SFCV. That of course drew some ire so someone created Schalke.V.ereint (e.V. stands for "eingetragener Verein" and is the legal term for a registered association, all football clubs were one at one point).

Well it now looks as if all that won't haunt the member meeting. I'm not sure if they can find a common ground but I hope they do. I think the club's fear is overblown, can't see something happen like in Hamburg where the fans took control of the club (and ran it into the ground). What I could see happen is a diminished role for the SFCV which the SFCV will fight with everything they have.

 

Happy Birthday Schalke 04 110 years today

May we always keep our democratic structure,never sell our soul to Abu Dhabi or elsewhere

 

Looks like the annual general meeting went without hiccup this time. Guess the most important news are:
1) Fährmann signed an extension till 2019
2) Elgert signed a new contract till 2018
3) Veltins signed an extension for the stadium name. They will pay more, don't know how much, and the contract will run till 2019.
4) Our U19 won today and is again qualified for the championship playoffs.

As for the election board. All the candidates of the SFCV failed. We will see how the work in the small groups for the rule changes will work out.


Ah, I forgot. Jobst said that Schalke will shortly sign a new partnership with a big Asian company. I don't know which one or what the partnership consists of.

 

No, problem. The most important one is probably Elgert's extension. He is just fantastic with the U19.

 

Löw nominated Meyer, Goretzka, Draxler and Höwedes for the World Cup. Well, for the training camp before. Doubt Meyer and Goretzka will be nominated for the World Cup proper. Still, a nice surprise for those two and a good reward for their first full season in the 1.Bundesliga.

 

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY, third place!! Finally!

Now Heldt just has to complete signing Giefer and, hopefully, Jung, and we're finished with our aquisitions as long as none of our regulars leaves.

I hope they can start building the new training pitches, footbonaut and the new stadium.

 

#Draxler: "Ich bin Profi genug, man kann nichts völlig ausschließen. Aber ich bleibe höchsthöchstwahrscheinlich hier!" #S04

"...You can't completely rule out anything. But I'm (most) probably staying."

Btw Aogo watched the game today in the Nordkurve. Took an old friend with him.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...50097293.53989.266616396770855&type=1&theater

 

Tuchel won't train Mainz next season. The situation is a bit chaotic, looks like Mainz won't release him, so the contract would stil run until 2015. There were also pretty believeable rumours that Schalke was on the verge of signing him and his team to take over this summer but Heidel shot it down. Tuchel rejected a later approach by Leverkusen.

I still can't see us replacing Keller with Tuchel this summer but next year is something different when Keller's contract runs out. Rumours will run wild the whole season long if Tuchel doesn't sign with another club and Schalke doesn't extend Keller's contract.

 

CL again. Keller der Hersteller (of wins) it is at last. Maybe not a bad coach at all after this injury affected season.
Am I a bad person if I still want Tuchel to coach the team next season?

 

Yes, you are!
I wouldn't cry if Tuchel took over, but I think Keller deserves coaching here next season.

 

Without any doubt. Maybe the U21? Wait, this is our first team now. ok, the U19 then..

 

Elgert is coaching the U19. I wouldn't even let Klopp or Pepp near them.

Heldt confirmed today that Keller will be our coach next season. He also confirmed signing Giefer.