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It Can’t Be As Bad – Can It? |
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The Shrewsbury game in April promises to be a very emotional day, coupled with this it could also decide automatic promotion, the play-offs……. or even worse. Of course, this isn’t the first time a famous old club has moved from an old ground to a new stadium, and the pain if it were to mean no promotion either would be hard, but not as hard as what happened to Germany’s FC Schalke 04. Many of you would have watched the Champions League final last year between Porto and Monaco, the shiny new stadium in which it was played was the “Arena auf Schalke” in Gelsenkirchen. FC Schalke 04 moved there after the 2000-2001 season, their final game in their antiquated old stadium and subsequent events will long live in the memories of German fans. On the final day of the season it was a straight fight for the Bundesliga title between the traditional working class side from Gelsenkirchen, Schalke and the hated FC Bayern Munich. The arrogance of FC Bayern is legendary, even more than a certain club begging up the M4. Both have millions in their fan base, but don’t actually go to the games. But then Bayern have European and National titles to back it up. Oh, and quite a few million Euros in the bank, oh and a new stadium being built, ah, schadenfreude, anyway I digress. Bayern were top, and Schalke were 3 points behind, but had a better goal difference. Schalke 04 were home to already relegated Unterhaching, but FC Bayern had a tough away game at Kevin Keegan’s old club Hamburg SV, where they needed a point to clinch the Bundesliga. The two games were very different, it was stalemate in Hamburg, but the goals flowed at Schalke and after 89 minutes they were 4-3 up. Then in the 90th minute, two things happened, Schalke added a fifth and unbelievably Hamburg scored to make it 1-0. The title was heading to Schalke, on the final day in their old stadium, and winning the title instead of Bayern. The tannoy announcer announced that Schalke were Bundesliga champions, sparking wild celebrations.Thousands invaded the pitch, large men wearing cut-off denim jackets, with flowing mullets danced with joy and openly wept. More and more came onto the pitch as their players came onto the balcony to celebrate their win. However, one piece of technology that the old ground had was a large digital scoreboard that showed a relay of the match in Hamburg……they had all forgotten about that, and the tannoy announcer had made a big, big mistake…… There had been 4 minutes injury time, and Bayern pumped a long ball up the pitch which Hamburg dealt with, and passed back to their keeper the ex-Schalker Schober, who inexplicably picked the ball up – Bayern got a free kick, and as the Schalke fans and players watched from 200km away, Patrick Andersson hammered in the equalising goal, giving the title to Bayern. The Schalke fans stood, stared at the screen in disbelief. They had been “champions” for 4 minutes, now they were the laughing stock of the watching nation. “The scar from Munich” still hurts the Schalke fans today. So whatever happens on April 30th, it can’t be as bad as what happened to Schalke……..can it? The whereabouts of the tannoy announcer is still unknown 😉 Willhelm von Baglan (DüsseldorfJack)
Images courtesy of Getty Images, Athena Picture Agency and Swansea City Football Club.
 
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