Tell Me About Your Favorite Team!

[and1GS]

So as someone who is just recently beginning to follow a major footy league closely (outside of FIFA ) I'm really lacking in the history of clubs and why they operate the way they do. I'd love to learn more about everyone's favorite club and was hoping this would be a good way to kinda get a capsulized look at each team represented by our posters.

There's no real structure for this, but what I am most interested in hearing about is:

-Why is your team where they are now?
*For example: I know Liverpool used to be on top of the world, but am unsure as to why they are where they are now? Think it may be bad transfers but I'm not too sure.

-How is your team run? Transfer and Tactics-wise.
*Ex: know there's some funky stuff with how Real is run, would be interested in hearing about that.

-History of your club: Best memories

-What is stopping your team from getting to the next level?
*City and Munich fans please don't depress me with answers here

-Thoughts on bringing in foreign players? Particularly how their style translates to the English, Italian, Spanish etc game

Any anecdotes would be cool, but I am really just looking to learn anything possible on the club. It's so hard trying to find TV shows that do this in America when you don't have cable, so I am relying on you all.

Thanks in advance for any commentary!

[treiz]

Chelsea FC

-Why is your team where they are now?
2 words: Roman Abramovich

-How is your team run? Transfer and Tactics-wise.
In recent years, the trend tends to be in the transfer market is that Chelsea's technical director Michael Enemalo would be in charge of transfers due to his close connection with Roman, apart from the Ancelotti regime, which Carlo had more power. But now, with Jose back I expect it to be a 50/50 relationship between the two with Jose having the final say, I think that's one of the reasons he came back.

Tactics wise, I think there's no surprise that Roman wants the 'Barcelona' way. In recent years, despite that revolving doors of managers, the tactics have largely stayed the same with a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 hybrid with a high line and quick intricate passing and full backs providing the width. One of the discrepancies is again with Ancelotti when he would play a 4-4-2 diamond/4-3-3 hybrid with Anelka and Drogba.

Another is Mourinho's 4-3-3 from his first stint with the club, have two inside forwards and quick attacking full backs and a great DM in Makelele. Most of the time, the tactic was get the ball to Drogba ASAP and let him do his magic, whether that be route 1 or otherwise. This team would usually start very fast and grab a couple of goals, then just close the game out by holding onto the ball. Sort of like the Hull game this weekend.

-History of your club: Best memories
I only started watching football in 2000, so best memories would no doubt be winning the Champions League in Munich followed closely by winning the title in 2005 and 2006.

-What is stopping your team from getting to the next level?
I don't think there's anything stopping us now, perhaps a clinical striker as Torres hasn't really lived up to anything and Lukaku is still young and Ba is at best a squad player. But despite that we're up there so, time to duke it out

-Thoughts on bringing in foreign players? Particularly how their style translates to the English, Italian, Spanish etc game
Foreign players are great, they've brought another dimension to the game with their passing, intelligence and demonstrated flair in something as simple as ball control or passing, most foreign players have brought something new to the table, whether it be Zola and his trickery and just utter genius on the ball, or even Henry lining up on the left wing to cut in and shoot, Ginola with his wonderful dribbling, Ronaldo with his free kicks, heck even Cantona and his craziness. These guys have always brought something fresh and makes football that much more fun to watch. Even though the English game is always physical, the leniency of the EPL in recent years has made it easier for them to translate and do well.

[cgf]

I am a fan of second division side 1 FC Union Berlin. 1 FC Union is often called a cult club in Germany because they are very uniquely run and it's created a long standing bond between the club, the fans and the community. This comes from the days before reunification as Union was one of the clubs that were in eastern Berlin, and during those times was often the primarily Berliner rivals to the Stazi-supported and operated BFC Dynamo. For years clashes between the clubs led to massive violence between the fan blocks as Union had a large following amongst workman and physical laborers who would no stand for the **** BFC's ultras would start.

While the wall has fallen and BFC with it, as they're now a 5th division side , union has continued with it's massively anti-commercial and independent mindset. That's why union staunchly refuse to risk control of the club to creditors or anybody, which is why when they renovated their stadium they refused to take any money from the city. Instead relying on the incredible bond with their fans that led thousands to take vacations off of work to come and volunteer their skills and labor for the construction that was done. And the club returns that bond with the fans by constantly standing on the edge of fans rights against the DFB. It was Union leading the way to protect the terraces, it was union that started the 12:12 fan protests, it is union that is always there when new regulations on fans come down, kicking and screaming about how they'll refuse to put their fans through them.

I've watched the fan relationship at other clubs, but not even Germany's most famous kultklub, St. Pauli, takes it to the degree the Eiserne do and that family bond shows itself every Christmas Eve when they cram over 20thousand people into the stadium to sing carols together on Christmas Eve, and that was the number before finishing the renovation, I could see that number breaking 30thousand in the next year or two.

However because of all of this union will never have big money so even for a second division side they have to rely on very clever transfers and their academies which have been seriously rising in the German youth tiers. That has been heavily bouyed by Union surpassing Hertha as the premier academy in Berlin and now most of the city's top talents are being groomed to play at the Alte Forsterei. That youth and the steady improvement the team has been achieving for the past 5 years could see Union reach the first BuLi in the next decade, but the money thing will prevent the club from ever becoming a regular in the top tier so I will celebrate like crazy if we ever get there.

There's so much more I could write but I'll end the essay here

[Man of Steel]

Real Madrid

Created in 1902, and together with Barcelona, Bilbao, and seven other Copa del Rey winners + runners up, were founding members of the Primeira Division (akin the top flight of EPL) in 1929.

Why are Madrid where they are now?
Even at the beginning of La Liga Madrid won 2 of the first three campaigns, but the focus on two major teams in Spain began In the '40s during the Spanish Civil War, when politicians in Madrid essentially decided to use the team as a way to gather support for the royalty (hence Real or "royal" Madrid), and Republic supporters tried gather behind teams like Barcelona.

War left properties, stadiums, and facilities damaged so that by end of the war the teams that were in the best place to challenge were Atletico, Valencia, and Sevilla. Then in 1945 Santiago Bernabeu (the man) was voted president and under his presidency the foundations for the new stadium, training facilities, and youth system we have today were put into place. The '50s are when Real really established themselves, with the inception of the European Cup in 1956. After finally landing Alfredo Di Stefano after a transfer scramble with Barcelona to get his signature, Madrid went on to win the first five editions of what is today known as the Champions League. Players like Puskas, Di Stefano, and Gento were the reason Madrid dominated. After winning their 6th European Cup in the 65-66 edition, Madrid went on a massive dry spell on the European level, but dominated heavily in Spain, winning 14/20 PD titles between 61-80.
The 80's were probably the best time for Madrid. A group of five home grown players known as La Quinta del Buitre were developed into the best attacking football side at the time, winning five Liga titles in a row, and two Europa league titles.
In the 97-98 season, with the help of Raul, Morientes, Roberto Carlos, Hierro, Seedorf, and Suker (along with Jupp Heynckes in the technical area), Madrid ended a 32 year dry spell and won their 7th CL.
1999-2000 was when Raul, Casillas, Morientes, and Guti really made a name for themselves, and even though they won the CL, 5th place in La Liga saw Vicente Del Bosque fired.
Then Perez happened. The club was heavily in debt and Perez not only promised to remove it, but to also bring signings like Figo (Barca), Zidane (Juve), Ronaldo (Inter), etc. His rampant spending seemed sure to doom the club when it was struggling, and yet Madrid was rolling in the money. Success on the pitch was a different story, as necessary players were sold to make way for the ones that would sell more shirts. We sold Claude Makelele to make way for Beckham, IMO the dumbest move we've ever made (and that includes the Bale signing for £93M). One brilliant CL in 01-02 brought our tally to nine, but continued poor form/elimination of the team due to lack of certain roles on the pitch saw Perez step down in 2006. This coincided with Ronaldinho becoming the worlds best footballer at the time as well, and if attacking football is what we wanted, we could have bought him the same year we bought Becks, but refused because of conflicting Sponsorships.
Since then it's been manager after manager and signing after signing but only Mourinho has been given the time and freedom with the squad selection to actually challenge Barcelona, and that's after we spent 200M in one summer. Massive history, but I didn't want it to be reduced to "Florentino Perez is an idiot with a sustainable financial plan that sucks on the field". Madrid has been much more than that, and will be. Kaká should have been proof enough that spending that kind of money on a player with an injury history is bad business, but he hasn't learned apparently.

How is the team run?
I personally wish we had hung on to Heynckes or Del Bosque as they would have been able to establish a brand of football that coincided with success and style. Instead, no manager is given enough time to imprint their philosophy on the team, so for three years we played counter attack football and now we're trying to play possession under Ancelotti. Hopefully the Brow is given enough time to do so, as he's been able to do at Milan and Juve. Obviously you're familiar with the Galactico policy, but with Spain growing such talents, the new dream is to pick up the best of Spain's products.

Best Memories:
Zidane's ridiculous volley against Leverkusen
Ronaldo (Fenomeno) getting a standing ovation at Old Trafford for a hattrick performance
Most of Figo's freekicks
Most of Ronaldo's freekicks
Remountada (Madrid are famous for coming back from seemingly impossible defeats, on aggregate). 6-1 vs. Zaragoza comeback, the 2 goals in quick succession last year that had Dortmund thinking they shouldn't have taken their foot off the gas, etc.

What's stopping Madrid?
Fans and organization alike have an obsession with winning the tenth CL title. Essentially any season where we don't win it is regarded not as a failure if we win other titles, but still subpar. It's made worse by the fact that Barca have won so many in the last decade.

Foreign Talent?
Clearly no hesitation to spend a metric **** ton on the best players regardless of where they come from, but recently the focus has been on snapping up/retaining the rights to the best Spanish talent (hence no transfers for Jesé and Morata, and why we bought Isco and overpaid for Illarramendi).

[Javanar]

Galatasaray

-Why is your team where they are now?
*1)Fatih Terim 2) New Stadium 3) Selcuk Inan

-How is your team run? Transfer and Tactics-wise.
* Not bad but not very good... We need 2 wingers to be an elit team. We were not able to transfer them for 2 years. And tactically, Terim is trying hard but he is still not able to find the ideal starting 11 and playing scheme for the team.

-History of your club: Lots of domestic titles & cups and a few international sucessess... UEFA Cup final in 2000, Xamax games in late 80's, Real Madrid games, 1993 Manchester games, TPD championships in 2006 and 2012 are the most valuable according to me...

-What is stopping your team from getting to the next level?
*Limitation for foreing players in TPD

-Thoughts on bringing in foreign players? Particularly how their style translates to the English, Italian, Spanish etc game
* Players coming from La Liga usually struggle in Turkey, because of pitch conditions, referees and hard tackles... Players with Serie A experience adapts well to TPD. Defenders or defensive midfielders with BundesLiga experience also help teams in TPD, with their disciplined approach.

[Point forward]

1. FC Kaiserslautern (2. Bundesliga)

Why is your team where they are now?
FCK was the first great post-WWII German soccer club, powered by the late great Fritz Walter - he was the original German #10. We remained an ok club in the 1970s and 1980s and flourished in the 1990s, winning the Bundesliga in 1991 and 1998. However, due to incompetent management (with "great" ideas, like selling Weidenfeller, Ballack, Klose etc. for a bag of chips) and a flurry of financial scandals, we ended up being bad and broke, and got relegated to the 2. Bundesliga multiple times, where we play until now. The future look good however, our current management is really cool.

How is your team run? Transfer and Tactics-wise.
ATM a pretty down to earth 4-4-1-1. FCK traditionally has been hustle first and finesse second. We have a soft spot for limited players who give it all. Our current manager, Stefan Kuntz, likes either young German players or proven 2nd Bundesliga players.

History of your club: Best memories
W/o any doubt the 1998 championship, when we won the BL as a newly promoted team. I doubt that this will ever happen again. The 1991 championship and the 1990 DFB trophy come close. One of the most bitter (sport) moments ever was when we played Barca in the 1992 EC, led 3-0 in the 90th minute after losing 0-2, and 5 foot 9 midget Jose Bakero HEADS the 3-1.

What is stopping your team from getting to the next level?
Still having to pay old debts from the black money era
Being EXTREMELY cautious with big transfers (not necessarily bad, though)
Being pathetic when not playing at home

Thoughts on bringing in foreign players? Particularly how their style translates to the English, Italian, Spanish etc game
IN: mostly a pipe dream, b/c we cannot pay any foreign stars. I would love Italian defenders or holding midfielders, because they are tactically very disciplined - something FCK lacks. English would like our hustle, and but Spaniards could be a bit lost b/c our team sometimes is allergic to the ball.
OUT: FCK players are usually technically and tactically limited, but pretty tough. That's why FCK players rarely go to Italy or Spain, but the EPL could be an ok choice.

[Maex]

FC BAYERN MUNICH



Why is your team where they are now?
Bayern was founded in 1900 and while they won its first national championship in 1932, Bayern was selected as one of the founding members of the Bundesliga in 1963. After the first championship in 1932 Bayern development was ended abrupt by the rise of the Nazism. A lot of the personal, including the coach and the president, were Jewish. While the other Munich club 1860 was supported by the Nazi regime (like most other clubs at this time), was Bayern seen as the "Jewish club". The club experienced further reprisals, after some players supported their former ( and jewish) coach, while they played a game in Switzerland. Besides all this disadvantages, Bayern was able to win one South German championship during this period of time.

After the second world, it took Bayern some time to recover. Kurt Landauer, former president who flew from the Nazis, cam back and took over the club again in 1947. Besides one win of the DFB-Pokal, nothing important happened until in 1965 Bayern finally relegated for the 1. Bundesliga and legends like Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, Franz "the Bull" Roth, Georg Schwarzenback and Sepp Maier joined the team. Bayern was finally able to compete steadily at a national and international level.

Are further important year for Bayern should be 1970, when Bayern signed Uli Hoeneß and Paul Breitner. Especially the first one dictated the history of Bayern Munich as player as well as manager. During this time period Bayern won four German Championships and three European Cups and one Winners' Cup.

Than there was a time of change. Beckenbauer left 1977, Sepp Maier and Hoeneß retired in 1979 while Müller left in the same time.

Rummenigge and Paul Breiter took over and Hoeneß got manager. Since than Bayern has been a story of success always competing with several German teams like Gladbach and Dortmund for national dominance.

As special recent event should be mentioned the lost CL final against Manchester United 1998/99 and the CL title in 2001. After this the Bayern team suffered at a international level. A lot of money was bounded to pay the loans for the new stadium "Allianz Arena", which made it necessary to rebuild the team in 2007. After a short term relationship with Klinsmann, Bayern finally got back to the top of Europe, playing three CL finals and winning one.

Bayern is at this position because of very wise management, especially Hoeneß has to be mentioned here. Often called the most financial stable club in the world, Bayern's pockets are loaded with money and this development is only at the start at the moment. Bayern will be the first top club without debt and has - from a marketing side - only focused on Germany, starting to focuse at foreign markets only recently.

-How is your team run? Transfer and Tactics-wise.
Tactics-wise it is hard to say, because a new coach with a new tactic took over recently. Pep seems to like his 4-1-4-1 system, but Bayern has a very strong wing play, with full backs like Lahm, Alaba, Rafinha and wingers like Ribery, Robben, Müller, Shaqiri. Traditionally, Bayern is a team with a strong focus on ball possession, which seems to even increase under Pep.

Transfer-wise, Bayern started to open their Pockets in 2007, loaded with a lot of money. While they focus on homegrown players, like Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Müller, Kroos, Alaba, Contento, Badstuber, Højbjerg, they will always try to get the best German and best Bundesliga players/talents (e.g. Neuer, Götze, Klose, Gomez, Dante,...). Furthermore they started to add high quality players in positions were the squad needed improvement (Ribery, Thiago, Martinez, Robben,...).
They have a very good youth academy, were the grow surprisingly much players. Besides the former mentioned one, here some more actual professional players from the youth academy: Misimovic, Hummels, Hitzlsperger, Trochowski, Steinhöfer, Sandro Wagner, Guerrero, Alou Diarra, Tremmel, Ekici, Lell, Nicola Sansone, Roberto Soriano, Ottl, Feulner, Niedermeier, Ekici, Can,...

-History of your club: Best memories
Best memories: CL winner 2001 and 2013.
Worst memories: CL final against Manchester United. Broke my heart at the worst possible way.

-What is stopping your team from getting to the next level?
City and Munich fans please don't depress me with answers here
Also I shouldn't answer, but Bayern has won main disadvantage to all other clubs. While Bayern is among or the leader(s) in all financial areas, TV money is holding Bayern back. At first the Bundesliga does get traditionally less TV money than e.g. PD and PL, because football has a broad public coverage and German culture isn't that much into pay TV. Furthermore the system of the money distribution does spread the money very equal among German teams. Most english, italian top teams, Barcelona and Madrid are earning more than €100m in difference from TV money, compared to Bayern Munich. Imagine this amount on top of what Bayern is earning at the moment - no one could stop them.

-Thoughts on bringing in foreign players? Particularly how their style translates to the English, Italian, Spanish etc game
As mentioned before, Bayern does bring in foreign players, as long as they bring quality. Normally they loved by the fans like Ribery, Martinez and Shaqiri.
On the other hand, Bayern had made very bad experience with direct imports from South America (Sosa, Breno,...). They try to avoid to do this again and are mostly looking for European players now.
Suprisingly Spaniards seem to be good fitting to the Bavarian culture. Also there are many players from Switzerland and Austria in the youth academy, which may not be really that much "foreign", because culture is similar and language is the same. Should be very easy for them to adapt to Bayern's culture. e.g. Shaqiri and Alaba.

[ATL Boy]

Borussia Dortmund:

Why is your team where they are now?
Dortmund who overspent in the early part of the 2000s and went in depth learned from their mistakes and started going conservative with their check book in recent years. This process has made for a successful team because of smart spending from Director Michael Zorc and charismatic coach Jurgen Klopp. Dortmund managed to buy key players such as Mats Hummels, Ilkay Gundogan, and Robert Lewandowski for cheap bargains, and got Marco Reus from less than 20 million euros. Dortmund's youth academy is also one of the best, producing talent such as Kevin Grosskreuts, Marcel Schmelzer, and Mario Gotze.

How is your team run? Tactics and Transfers
I've already gone over the transfer tactics of spending smart and getting players at a bargain. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was Dortmund's most expensive player in recent memory coming with a 25 million euro transfer fee over the summer.

As for the tactics Klopp runs a default 4-2-3-1 with Lewandowski serving as the main striker and benefiting from having play-makers such as Reus and Gundogan feeding him the ball. Dortmund uses speed and good passing to kill their opponents, the counter attacks for Dortmund are a lethal weapon and often deadly.

History of your club, best memories
I'm still a young fan and was only a year old when it happened but the best memory has to be the 1997 Champions League win over Juventus 3-1 in the final. My personal best memory was the recent 3-2 win against Malaga where Dortmund needed 2 goals and scored twice in stoppage time to advance to the Semi-Final. The Champions League run was a wonderful memory in itself.

Getting it out there though, my worst memory was the 2-1 loss in the final against Bayern Munich, when Arjen Robben scored in THE 89TH FREAKING MINUTE!!! Speaking of Bayern

What is stopping your team from getting to the next level?
One of the biggest obstacles is Bayern Munich, the high spending Bavarians who are coming off of one of the best seasons ever and who are in a sense trying to create a monopoly in Germany. Also, the conservative spending and finding the needle in the haystack is great but can only get you so far with high spenders such as Real Madrid, and Bayern always lurking. I'm hoping the Youth academy can keep spitting out talent to keep pace with these high spenders.

Thoughts on bringing in foreign players?
If the players bring quality and help us win then I don't and Dortmund don't care what their nationality is. Lewandowski was brought in and has become a top Bundesliga striker. The transfers in the summer window proved that there's no hesitation to bring in foreigners: bringing in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitarayan and targeting foreignors such as De-Bruyn, and Eriksen.

One more thing, WE HAVE THE BEST FANS!!

[Mr Grant Hill]

Furthermore the system of the money distribution does spread the money very equal among German teams. Most english, italian top teams, Barcelona and Madrid are earning more than €100m in difference from TV money, compared to Bayern Munich. Imagine this amount on top of what Bayern is earning at the moment - no one could stop them.

the difference between top teams from PL/SerieA and bayern isn't that big, it is a difference, but defo not €100m (see deloitte's money league). the real difference is the difference between real madrid, barcelona - and the rest. because in la liga they have individual tv contracts, in the other four big leagues they have collective tv deals and share the money. funny thing is that half of the pro clubs in spain are broke... it's like running a society without a welfare state. and that's btw the reason why it's so funny that people claim la liga is the best league in europe.

One more thing, WE HAVE THE BEST FANS!!

you have the biggest standing terrace in europe. that doesn't mean you have the best fans, it only means that your stadium is old-fashioned. nobody would build such a stand nowadays, not even "real love"-borussia, simply because it's not profitable. you could build such a stand in manchester, in barcelona, in munich and sell season tickets for nothing - and you'd always have such a support. but nobody does that today. borussia executives will always say how they love the atmosphere, but they know very well that their matchday income is ridiculously low (see deloitte's money league).

[cgf]

Realizing that I post with someone my little sister's age is traumatizing.

[Maex]

the difference between top teams from PL/SerieA and bayern isn't that big, it is a difference, but defo not €100m (see deloitte's money league). the real difference is the difference between real madrid, barcelona - and the rest. because in la liga they have individual tv contracts, in the other four big leagues they have collective tv deals and share the money. funny thing is that half of the pro clubs in spain are broke... it's like running a society without a welfare state. and that's btw the reason why it's so funny that people claim la liga is the best league in europe.

Everyone is knowing Deloitte Money League. But they use revenue data and this is only old data (e.g. for the actual Money League it is 11/12). This was two seasons away. Also it is including European and domestic cup money.
Former Money League showed the single parts of the brodcasting income, but sadly they stoped doing that.
If we take last year Manchester United earned in the Premier League, without any cup game €72m while Bayern earned €25.8m.
As you may know, both leagues signed a new deal. Bayern will earn €33,2m while the worst Premier League team will earn €77m next season.

Now imagine that Bayern will have a revenue of above €400m this season and add a deal like the PL one to the equation. Best earning club easily...

[postup]

1. FC Köln, currently 2. Bundesliga, though not for long and never again.

Don't feel like a detailed essay, so let me narrow it down to it all beginning as a young boy whose favourite player was Klaus Fischer and who revelled in the glory days of Littbarski, Schumacher, Allofs, and later on the Daum era.

First Bundesliga champion ever in 1963 and pinnacle of success in '78 when we won the double of BL champion and DFB Pokal, though both of those predate me. But I feel like I was there... Then 1983, when I just about destroyed our house when Littbarski saved us in an ugly final against cross-town rival Fortuna.

Absolutely die-hard fan whose loyalty never ever wavered, even though I grew up in the depths of Bavaria surrounded by supporters of much-despised Bayern and even in the face of one disaster after another in the past decade and our current second division status. (I can't help but feel embarrassed by some of our fans in recent years.)

Union Berlin and Kaiserslautern fans?! Who are you people? Do you get to see any games and if so, how?
And Point Forward, I have to agree that your '98 championship was an unbelievable feat never to be repeated.

[cgf]

I was born in Berlin and used to spend my summers back there, the area still feels more like home to me than anywhere in the US. I used to only get to see the first few matches of the season before I had to go back stateside for school, a couple of years we went back for Christmas so I could also catch the last game or two of hinrunde. Which sucked, but for years now BuLi2 has been streaming illegal online which makes following the team just a question of making sure I drank enough to wake up super early.

[Point forward]

Hard to avoid Kaiserslautern games if you lived there Nowadays, I watch it on German TV. And yes, that 1998-9 championship season was magical. We had a super team with spectacular, crowd pleasing football. There was a time in which we had the best defense (Kadlec, Schjönberg, Koch, Roos), the best midfield (Buck, Ratinho, Sforza, Reich), the best strikers (Marschall, Kuka, Hristov), the best coach (Rehhagel), the best sub (Rische) and the best talent (Ballack) in the Bundesliga. Those days...

[Foye]

1. FC Köln, currently 2. Bundesliga, though not for long and never again.

Cologne needs to be in the Bundesliga, yeah. I've been a few times to Cologne and the city is awesome although the people can be wierd at times.

How I got a Mainz 05 fan is pretty easy. Up until I was 10 or so I didn't really follow any team. However, as a child I went to an Eintracht game (I think it was in 2000) It was against Wolfsburg. Tomislav Maric absolutely destroyed Eintracht that game and I didn't really enjoy it.

A few months later I saw Mainz 05 beat VFL Osnabrück 2:0 on tv. From that day on I knew it would be my team.

Back then the team was a talented but mediocre 2nd Bundesliga team. They finished the season just above the relegation spots. Games at Bruchweg were rarely sellouts, the team was build of players who failed elsewhere and we had almost no money to work with.

The more surprising it was that after finishing 14th in 00/01 we were able to compete for promotion to the Bundesliga. 2001-2003 were painful years. Mainz 05 played amazing soccer (given their possibilities with a small budget) under Jürgen Klopp. However, we failed with 64 points and 62 points to promote. 64 points from 01/02 is is the largest number of points collected from a team in 2nd Bundesliga that didn't promote to the Bundesliga until today.
And btw. cgf I still hate Union Berlin for beating us on the last game in 01/02.
02/03 was even worse. We won 4-1 in Braunschweig on match day 34....we were about to be promoted but it felt like the 98th minute when Alexander Schur scored for Eintracht Frankfurt to make it 6:3 against Reutlingen. Frankfurt got promoted that season because of a better goal difference of +1.

In 03/04 we finally made it. That year we had already given up the race for the Bundesliga. Midway to the Rückrunde we basically had no chance for promotion but teams in front of us were dropping points like crazy.
In 05/06 we were allowed to participate in the UEFA CUP because of some fair play price or whatever. Eventually we were thrown out by the later winner FC Sevilla. It was still cool for a club that had played in the 2nd league not long ago.

06/07 we got relegated again but after two years we came back stronger than ever, with good youth teams and now a new stadium. And as long as Tuchel is in charge we ll remain a strong team.

[cgf]

Eiserne do what the eiserne do.

I do gotta give Tuchel a lot of love, after Streich he's probably the best coach in germany at a small team.

[Foye]

History of your club, best memories
I'm still a young fan and was only a year old when it happened but the best memory has to be the 1997 Champions League win over Juventus 3-1 in the final.

Nothing can ever beat the awesomeness of Lars Ricken scoring the winning goal in a CL final on a 20+ meter lob after being subbed in like 10 seconds before.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxzwl5ZPYwY[/youtube]

[Mirjalovic]

Lazio

-Why is your team where they are now?
*smart yet non-popular fan pleasing decision by Lazio management.

-How is your team run? Transfer and Tactics-wise.
*since Cragnotti reign over, Lotito bring new policy, sign very cheap but very experienced player (Di Canio, Siviglia, Filipini brothers etc) or young players with immense potential (Pandev, Delgado, Diakite etc). However, overtime Lazio condition getting better and better.. we used to hunt for Baggio's corpse, now we had chance at UCL top scorer, Yilmaz.I pleased on how this team run, & not blindly to get players above his "actual price".

Lotito can bring Lazio in this position, without any backup from any major/big corps, thats very remarkable, wonder what happen with Lazio if Lotito is a very wealthy guy.

-History of your club
When Cragnotti bankrupt, and we sell our stars. Thats very devasting moment for me.
Lazio win vs Palermo 3-0 in 2006/2007. I was in terrible ill and when watching it from my bed i pray to god if its ok for me if im dead that day if Lazio win that game, but thank god im stay alive and Lazio win the game.

-What is stopping your team from getting to the next level?
Money of course.

-Thoughts on bringing in foreign players? Particularly how their style translates to the English, Italian, Spanish etc game -
Its ok, a lot unknown foreigner flourished in Lazio, such as Pandev, Litchsteiner, Muslera, Kolarov, Lulic, Diakite, etc.

well, warning, Lazio condition is very unique, you can find very different opinion about how Lazio run from another Laziale.

[Joao Saraiva]

Sporting CP

-Why is your team where they are now?
We are not champions since 2002. We had our worse season ever last year and missed european competitions for the first in our history. That was because we had really bad boards, very bad presidents and a lot of money-suckers. Fortunately it is all changing with the new president. We are now in 2nd place in the portuguese league and playing great football. Scored 19 goals in just 7 matches!

-How is your team run? Transfer and Tactics-wise.
We bet on young players from our own academy, and they've been very successfull. The top 3 players of our academy are known world wide: Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Paulo Futre.

-History of your club: Best memories
The best moment of my club is winning the cup winners cup. But I wasn't alive to see it.
I started watching in 96, so the best memories I have are winning the championship in 98 (our club didn't win the championship 18 years in a row) and in 2002 (we had a great team with Jardel going crazy for 42 goals winning the european golden boot).

The other best memories are the UEFA cup campaign in 2005 (but also associated with the worse memory of all, losing the final at home vs CSKA) and winning the portuguese cup in 2008, eliminating our rival Benfica 5-3 in the semi final and the other rival FC Porto 2-0 in the final.

-What is stopping your team from getting to the next level?
Money suckers inside the club. But they're all finally being fired. I hope we can win the tittle much more times from now on than we did in the last two decades.

-Thoughts on bringing in foreign players? Particularly how their style translates to the English, Italian, Spanish etc game
So far I like bringing players from south america. Some of our greatest idols are Acosta, Jardel, Liedson and now Freddy Montero looks to be doing great.