Today’s kicker articles featuring the Yanks: FRANKIE HEJDUK... Kicker’s main headline today is „LAST CALL – THE DOORS ARE CLOSING“. One of the sub-stories is: THE LUCKY ONE Hejduk: New start at FC St. Gallen On Saturday he still was on Leverkusen’s tribune. On Sunday he flew to Switzerland with GM Ilja Kaenzig. On Tuesday Frankie Hejduk was having new colleagues – the pros of FC St. Gallen. The US player with 44 caps signed until the end of the season with the Swiss traditional club, afterwards he can leave as free transfer. Hejduk: “I’m lucky that it worked. They expect me to guide the team”. He wasn’t having this status in Leverkusen. Kaenzig is appreciating that he never complained despite of that: “A super pro. He deserves a new chance”. GREGG BERHALTER… …Kicker article on Cottbus: BERHALTER: CONTRACT UNTIL 2004 ... [they start reporting on Sebök, Termina and Brasilia who all can leave the club] Meanwhile the first new transfer is completed. The defender Gregg Berhalter (29) comes as a free transfer. The US national player with 29 caps played at the WC 2002 the games vs. Mexico (rated 4) and Germany (rated 3). His former clubs are Zwolle (94-96), Sparta Rotterdam (96-98) and Cambuur (98-00). Since summer 2000 he was under contract at Crystal Palace, but last year he only had 14 games (1 goal) in the First Division. Cottbus is still interested in Kaiserslautern’s defender Tomasz Klos though. TONY SANNEH… … kicker: Mr Geenen, you’re driving to England this week to talk with Premier League clubs about a transfer of Anthony Sanneh. Edgar Geenen (GM): That’s true, we want to get rid off players due to financial reasons. I think a transfer of Sanneh is rather improbable. CORY GIBBS/ST. PAULI… …the situation with the coach is that Siegen’s Ingo Peter is still the favourite solution. Peter spoke to his club and did not decide yet. He first wants to coach his team in the 1.leg of the DFB-cup and then he’ll announce his decision. The chances are 50-50. DFB-CUP, 1. ROUND, WEEKEND PREVIEW: After Cory Gibbs still was injured in St Pauli’s 2-1 victory vs D4 team Tennis Borussia Berlin, plenty of other Yanks are starting into cup action this weekend: Trier vs Nürnberg (Sat, 3.30): Augenthaler doesn’t change the team that defeated Hannover, which means that Sanneh stays in the central defence. With D2 promoted team Trier, Nürnberg is expecting a difficult task. Burghausen vs Cottbus (Sat, 3.30): kicker doesn’t expect Berhalter in the starting team, but they probably didn’t know about the transfer when printing this page. Sanneh and Berhalter have the only D2 vs D1 duels. Siegen vs Oberhausen (Sun, 3.00): van Buskirk and Lukin are expected to start vs the favourites of D2. Might be the last game for coach Ingo Peter in Siegen. Bremen Ama vs Bayern Munich (Sat, 3.30): Salyer didn’t have a minute yet and so he’ll have to be patient and hope for a substitution against the record champion. Aalen vs Hannover (Sat, 3.30): Hannover will start with Cherundolo, but still without Casey. Hannover’s aim is to gain self-confidence for the league, but Aalen (D3) is a tricky opponent with a good run at the moment. Unterhaching vs Mainz (Fri, 7.00): Mainz is favourite against the D3 team of Munich’s south. Gibson and Duhaney are not expected to play. Eventually take a look at Mainz Ama vs Rostock (Sun, 5.00), if they didn’t play for the pro team, they might help out to surprise the undefeated Bundesliga site. Braunschweig vs Reutlingen (Fri, 7.00): the D2 game of the last weekend (1-2) again in the cup competition. Thomas will probably start again. LEAGUE ACTION: PHILIP SALYER… again did not play in the 0-1 loss of Bremen Ama in Aue yesterday. This game was played earlier as both teams qualified for the cup competition. JOE ENOCHS… starts against KFC Uerdingen as central mid this weekend (Sat, 2.00). ADAM MAURER… ‘s transfer was not known by kicker when printing the page. Due to lacking alternative he might have his premier for SC Verl vs Wattenscheid (Sat, 2.00). PAYNE/LAWSON/MASON/SHOFFNER – Neunkirchen vs Elversberg is the only D3 South game of the weekend (all other games moved to Wednesday). Shoffner and Lawson will probably face the bench again; Mason is still injured, Payne starts. PELLEGRINO MATARAZZO: the reason for his substitution last weekend was not related to his performance. The doctors feared a broken nose, but it is just a bruise.
http://www.eintracht.com/news/aktue...84&PHPSESSID=025bf1a23d7cdb6d0e97bd9c3576eadc Jacob Thomas signing autographes. Local press expects Holger Karp to start for Eintracht, and I don't think that Karp and Thomas would start together (they both play on the same position). Of course this is also speculation.
Olaf, thanks as usual. I'm a little confused by Geenen's comments though. He seems to be saying that "yes, we want to offload players to ease our financial problems and Sanneh is likely one of them, but no he probably won't leave." Is it just me or is he contradicting himself a little here?
Thanks, Olaf ! Does this mean that FCN is STILL looking to unload Sanneh to a Premiership side?!? I thought that possibility was long dead and buried. I guess we'll have an answer in the next two or three days...
Re: Re: kicker's YA articles, 8/29 (R) Well, I doubt that it's working this weekend. On Saturday the transfer list closes and then he could only talk about a transfer in winter or for the next season. They wouldn't weep to get rid off Sanneh and this probably is just a try to be there if some injury happens in the EPL on Saturday.
I detected something very interesting in the column “Throw-in”, columnist was Nürnberg’s GM Edgar Geenen: This week I got several phone calls. Tenerife, where Ewald Lienen is the head coach, wants to get rid off players. Crystal Palace called and offered us Gregg Berhalter who now is transferred to Cottbus. These clubs even were willing to pay transfer sums to get rid off some players. We of 1.FC Nürnberg don’t want players, we also want to get rid off two or three. The whole thing shows: the cashes in the small clubs are empty, the salaries can’t be paid anymore. In foreign leagues the situation is even much more dramatic than in Germany. The Kirch-crisis, that surprised us as it was treated like a small problem for a long time, was a shock. Last season we got 600 K less than expected, in this season it’ll be 2.5 M. Clear that small clubs hardly can get along with it. The fact that 75% of the transfer sums were paid by the top four of the league, is revealing the full truth. The question for a small club as Nürnberg now is, how to manage the situation between making money and staying in the league. The situation can only be solved like this: the new contracts are getting back to normal dimensions, the players have to earn less. The roster will be reduced to 23/24 instead of 26/27. And lots of emphasis has to be put to the reserves teams. That our reserves are having an age average of 20.8 is speaking for itself. To concentrate on the youth – a way born in need, but the only chance for small clubs. A way that requires luck – as we had with Cacau. The lucky cases have to be optimised. The problem: if the player are good, then someone will buy them, cause for most young pro players money is counting more than a sportive perspective. As with the TV money we also can’t make more money in the sectors sponsoring/merchandising in the coming years. Working the way up to the top clubs – that’s not possible anymore. That’s frustrating – and an exciting task nevertheless. Cause if you’re only frustrated, then you’ll better quit the job.
Don't know much about this Adam Maurer fellow. He apparently played at St. John Fisher College (in Rochester, NY) and may have played/been playing in the A-League.
Fascinating insider's look at the state of business at a typical "small" club... somewhat shocking that a GM would actually admit in the press that this economic climate means that it is almost impossible for any small club to compete for the championship when facing the resources of the largest, best-funded clubs: "Working the way up to the top clubs – that’s not possible anymore." Not the underlying fact of the matter (which is clear to the cynic/realist), but the fact that a club official would pretty much admit in the press -- in front of its own fans -- that everyone can forget a chance at the "Meisterschaft." Isn't that admitting defeat in advance of the fact? And I thought Major League Baseball was the only league with problems... Olaf, do you think that these financial difficulties are merely the tip of the iceberg? Are there going to be more "Fiorentinas" or (nearly) "Eintracht Frankfurts" in Europe come next summer? BTW, do you do your own translations from scratch, or do you use a program and then clean it up afterwards? Either way, it's a ton of energy and time, and thanks for your efforts. Much appreciated!
In Germany we know our problem clubs. Frankfurt and Stuttgart are basically bankrupt since years, but they aren't shut down as Frankfurt is headquarter of the DFB and Stuttgart is home of the DFB-President (who caused Stuttgart's financial trouble in his time as VfB-President). Almost all others have problems, but in limits; completely without sorrow are only the top 5 (Bayern, Bayer, Dortmund, Hertha, Schalke). The gap between them and all others will increase from season to season, but the others won't go bankruptcy as long as they don't feel forced to close this gap with financial insanity. In other leagues we'll surely see more Fiorentina cases. In German Bundesliga they are shaking their heads since years about many clubs mainly in Spain and Italy, so this bankruptcy did not surprise anyone at all - and also if about a dozen others are following. Consider that UEFA forced them to copy the German licensing that's already very weak, but still is able to crash numerous clubs there. After all, we're still on a very high level. Listen to Calli, who recently said "Those who are complaining just because the players' wives have to wear one ring less in their nose, are mourning on a very high level and should be beaten with a bamboo stick on their head". But as the top clubs are everything but willing to do compromises, expect the national league to be drifting apart and face significant structural changes - may it be a European league for all top teams (quite probable) or just national leagues without international competition (rather a consequence for the others if a Euro league comes to exist). Regarding your worries for the translation: it doesn't take too long as I usually don't have to use a dictionary and can read & type quite simultaneously. @Dave: Adam Maurer's last club was San Diego Flash.
Funny you mention that right after talking about the financial difficulties of German clubs. The San Diego Flash folded after last season. Their owners actually packed it in right before the start of the season, so they played last year as San Diego FC and were basically run by a local youth club.
By the way, Olaf, I want to compliment you -- your English has gotten much better in the past few months. It was never bad (and vastly superior to my German), but you're really getting quite good. I hope you can see that as an actual benefit to being on these boards.
Now it's official, Thomas will not play in the cup game. He always has problems with his muscles (he is quite often injured), so the coach doesn't want to let him play two games in a week. He will probably play again in the next league game (next Wednesday, if i am not mistaken).