Season 2010/11: It is Manuel Neuer's last season at FC Schalke 04. And while Schalke are expelling the national keeper from their circle, the Bayern supporters are setting up a curious code of conduct for Neuer. Dortmund becomes champion with a happy goalkeeper Weidenfeller: "We played a terrific season!"
"I used to stand in the corner and yell not very nice things about the other clubs. How am I supposed to wear those clubs' shirts then?" It was probably a "sinful act of youth" that today's national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer announced in the official yearbook of FC Schalke 04 for the 2007/08 season, but now that his move to the record champions was due at the end of the 2010/11 season, he still hung on another sentence from this magazine: "Manuel Neuer at FC Bayern Munich – that doesn't fit!" Suddenly the goalkeeper of the German national team was caught between all fronts. A tragic situation that had a lot to do with Nibelungen-loyal club love and broken hearts.
"Manuel's decision has destroyed too much for too many of us. It has proved to us painfully that we shouldn't give too much of our faith to players. Let's look at players for what almost all of them are, professional athletes temporarily wearing the royal blue be allowed to wear jerseys," wrote the Ultras GE in an open letter about their former member Manuel Neuer's move to Bayern Munich. Now, however, in Munich they had the problem with their own fans - and the record champions tried very hard to keep the peace at home.
Because there, some groups had not given the national goalkeeper a warm welcome with the poster - "You can save as many balls as you like, we will never accept you in our jersey". It was now agreed that the organized protests would be stopped for the coming season if Neuer would respect five rules of conduct in addition to "respectful distance". And Manuel Neuer did this. Specifically, this should mean: 1. Never use the megaphone to pretend the chants, 2. Never kneel in front of the team to sing the "Humba" song, 3. Do not approach the south stand, 4. Never put your jersey on the curve throw, 5. Never kiss the Bayern coat of arms on the jersey.
But before that - still with Manuel Neuer - S04 coach Felix Magath's business at Schalke quickly got out of hand in the 2010/11 season. The reputation and trust in the previously powerful ruler suffered from the failure of his team. For a short time, royal blue was even in real danger of relegation. Too much for the Schalke leadership. They separated in mid-March. At the last minute, a mudslinging between the parties who were parting in the dispute was prevented.
Mainly because Magath started back at his old employer, VfL Wolfsburg, just two days after being kicked out at Schalke. There, a sound engineer allowed himself a joke during the microphone check at the first press conference with new coach Magath when he breathed into the acoustic amplifier in front of the assembled crowd of media: "One, two, three, one, two, three, medicine ball!"
There was also stress in Hamburg. World star Ruud van Nistelrooy really wanted to leave HSV in January and switch to Real Madrid. But the leadership banned the Dutchman from this transfer. When van Nistelrooy wanted to complain personally to CEO Bernd Hoffmann, the receptionist unfortunately had to turn him down. Her boss isn't there, she said, but of course he'd be happy to talk to the new sporting director, van Nistelrooy's former team-mate, Bastian Reinhardt. The Dutchman reacted angrily and clearly: "I don't want 'Pipo de Clown'. I want to speak to the boss!"
In Frankfurt, Eintracht fired their coach Michael Skibbe. Not much went together in the second half of the season. Eintracht managing director Heribert Bruchhagen said during the winter break: "We're seventh and it would be stupid if we didn't try to finish fifth. We can't go down anymore. We have to take advantage of the moment." A complete misjudgment of the situation. But Coach Skibbe didn't look particularly happy in the downward spiral either. After Frankfurt's 0-0 draw against Kaiserslautern, he said: "I'm not at a loss. I apologize if I came across as that."
In his distress, Heribert Bruchhagen hired Christoph Daum against the advice of many colleagues. Uli Hoeneß in particular was amazed and shocked by Bruchhagen's action: "There must have been some powder in the Bundesliga coffee, in general. And maybe he had something in there too." For the fans, Daum's commitment was rather humorous: "If Daum runs through his line, Frankfurt will have the edge in the relegation battle."
However, Eintracht benefited from Daum's commitment in the media. The first press conference turned into a major public event. More than 50 photographers, ten camera teams and around 100 journalists noted Daum's sentences like these: "It's about unity now 25 hours a day", "The family is now at the back. I put up pictures of myself at home. The my wife can look at it as long as I'm not there" and "The head plays an important role in football. When it works, the head is like a third leg". After the descent, Christoph Daum said an interesting last sentence: "I've gotten a little smarter over time, but I haven't failed."
Borussia Dortmund became champion. The team played excellent football, with a very young team (Klopp: "When we last won in Munich, most of my players were still being breastfed"), and kept our feet still for a long time: "We agreed that the M- Word not to use. But we want to take the championship lead into the summer break" (BVB stadium spokesman Norbert Dickel). When winning the title, coach Jürgen Klopp said: "If you had collected the luck that day and shot it out into the world, then all of China would have grinned." The final word, however, belonged to another Dortmunder, keeper Roman Weidenfeller: "We played a terrific season!"
