Wattenscheid signed Adam Maurer (Verl) and Eric Lukin (Siegen). As far as I know Maurer still has contract in Verl, but it might be that it is a D3 contract only. Wattenscheid – from 1990 to 1994 in Bundesliga – finished 4th in Regionalliga Nord this season. After selling their biggest talents, the Altintop twins, for combined 2 M (one to Schalke, one to Kaiserslautern), they need to build a new team. The club is depending on one main sponsor, but their experienced coach Hannes Bongartz is always having success with young teams despite of a little budget. However, Verl and Siegen still have a protest going on and the licence matter ahead, so Maurer and Lukin might be forced to stay with their club; after all it seems improbable that Wattenscheid pays a transfer sum. As stated last week, Elversberg set high priority on keeping Tim Lawson. As it seems, they won’t succeed. Lawson has several offers, one from league rivals 1.FC Saarbrücken but also from unnamed 2.Bundesliga clubs. Joe Enochs had four nominations to the ‘Team of the Day’ and this caused that he also entered kicker’s ‘Team of the Season’ as only D3 Yank in the two divisions.
Due to the licensing procedure, Siegen stays in the league (Mannheim and Reutlingen did not get a licence for the next season). Don't know if Lukin still has a contract and now stays with them instead of leaving to Wattenscheid, but van Buskirk and Norkus stay in D3 now. However, also this decision is not final as the two mentioned clubs can still try the sports courts. Verl's relegation is not decided yet. The KFC Uerdingen officials were called to the DFB today and after the hearing DFB decided to postpone this matter; if they don't get a licence, Verl will stay in and Maurer might have to stay.
Did Enochs sign a new contract? I thought this was his last year of the old contract? Is he staying in Germany?
Re: Re: Maurer and Lukin to Wattenscheid; Lawson set to leave Elversberg; Enochs in ‘Team of He extended his contract in Osnabrück for two years. Panicfc, it's difficult to predict where Lawson might go. Regensburg could be a candidate, who promoted from his division. Karlsruhe as bottom D2 team with financial problems from roughly his region. Trier is another possibility; actually that's closest to Elversberg. Meanwhile I got it confirmed that Lukin's transfer to Wattenscheid now is a problem as he still has a valid contract in Siegen after they got the licence. The final word is not spoken in this matter though.
The crucial meeting on Uerdingen's license (and therefore Verl's relegation) will be on Friday. This meeting also determines Maurer's future as it seems that Verl would force him to stay in case of remaining a D3 team.
Verl lost with their protest in court. They still can move to the next instance though and they will hope on Friday when the decision on Uerdingen's licence will be dropped. Osnabrück got a new coach: Frank Pagelsdorf, formerly several years at Hamburger SV; he led them to the Champions League in 99/00.
Two stories in short: KFC Uerdingen got the license today, which means that Verl relegated. They got a little chance left as they go to the next instance with their protest against the fact that not all games started at the same time at the last matchday as it is used to. In the first instance the court ruled that the association can't be blamed as the weather is something that can't be controlled. IMO this judgement won't be changed and so Verl will relegate. This means that Adam Maurer leaves Verl towards Wattenscheid. In the improbable case that Verl succeeds with the protest (they don't even believe it themselves), they'll force Maurer to stay. Siegen has the licence at the moment. This all depends on the protest of SSV Reutlingen against not getting the licence. Reutlingen did all they thought was enough to get the licence, but five minutes before the deadline DFB called and said that 150 K are missing. They got a quick bank guarantee and sent it over 2 minutes before the deadline, but due to a bank error it arrived half an hour late and they did not get the licence. This at least is Reutlingen's story. Their chances to get the licence in court are better than Verl's, but I also rate their chances very small. If Reutlingen gets the licence, then Siegen has to relegate. And the only reason why I'm telling it: Lukin stays in Siegen in case of D3, otherwise he leaves towards Wattenscheid. Norkus and van Buskirk would stay in D4.
I don't think so. It rather is a story the club tells to calm down the fans and make some mood and create pressure against DFB. Additionally DFB wasn't forced to even tell them that a sum is missing; they could have waited until the deadline was passed and then tell "sorry guys, it's not enough" - nobody could have complained in this case. And indeed there was another club (don't remember who it was at the moment) that did not get the license for being two minutes over the deadline.