FC Schalke 04 is relegated from the Bundesliga. The Revierklub does it perfectly with a bankruptcy in Bielefeld. The mood against the team escalated during the night. A city between hatred, frustration and indifference.
“Hmmma, give me the newspaper.”
“Really wanna read that shit?” (Note from the editor: The text on the relegation of FC Schalke 04)
“No, come to the archive”
Dialogue in a newsagents shop on the legendary Schalke Markt. Wednesday morning, around 8 a.m. Coffee and butts, then the processing of Tuesday evening.
“Well, it sucks.”
“But it was already the whole time.”
“Right.”
“Are you free today?”
“No, I have to go right away.”
Gelsenkirchen, nowhere in Germany is football more meaningful than in this old industrial city in the middle of the Ruhr area. Nestled between five highways, heavily marked by the Maloche. Nowhere in Germany has football tormented people more than in Gelsenkirchen in the past 16 months. When is this horror with only two victories in the past 15 months Has bottomed out, nobody can tell for sure. At least not sporty. Only when it came to an end can be easily scheduled: On Tuesday evening, the fourth relegation in the club’s history and the first in 33 years was sealed by a 0-1 defeat against promoted Arminia. The miserable end of a miserable (please improve yourself) season. “It hurts more than expected. Shit!” Tweeted the club after the final whistle.
The worst horror was revealed on Wednesday night. After the team returned from Bielefeld, the Schalker Arena escalated. A debate between players and fans ended with physical attacks on the professionals who had been mocked and humiliated for months. Not all angry fans at the stadium are said to have been involved in the attacks. In an unverified Instagram chat history circulating on WhatsApp, someone boasts that he has “pulled a bomb” on a player.
The police speak of “massive aggression” with which the players were confronted. “Players ran away,” said a spokesman. It is not known that players were injured. A hundred police intervened. In addition, two professionals are said to have been kicked. But this is not confirmed. The police are aware of a terrifying video that is circulating on the Internet and is supposed to show a corresponding escape scene in front of the arena. It could not be said who could be seen on it, the spokesman said. Mark Uth is talked about on social media. Either way: the scenes are unbearable. They are scenes of a hunt. Disgusting. At least.
A stunned madness that the so torn and troubled club hardly gets processed in the hours after: “With all understandable frustration and all understandable anger about relegation to the 2nd Bundesliga: The club will never accept it if the physical integrity of its Players and employees are at risk. That is exactly what happened last night through the actions of individuals, “said a statement. The boundaries were exceeded by individuals and so far “unassigned persons”. The club condemns this behavior “in the strongest possible way and naturally places itself in front of its employees”.
These scenes are not an issue at the arena early on Wednesday morning. The news of the nightly escalation is not (yet) known. Two elderly women are walking their dogs.
“Bad thing.”
“Yes, I hope dat will be back.”
“Press the thumb.”
Is it about Schalke?
“No, to Werner (Editor’s note: name changed), he really sucks. Is in the hospital. But not life threatening. After all.”
The dogs sit on the small meadow by the ticket booth. Schalke? Well, fuck the dog on it. A few meters further at the rehab center right next to the old park stadium. Sporting activity. Schalke? Sure, it’s a topic. But what can you say: “They’ll still manage to stay in the league was less likely anyway than I’ll win another hundred-meter race.” The man is “around 80”, walks on crutches, “knees are bad.”
On to the arena. Through streets that bear the name of the great legends: Ernst Kuzorra, Stan Libuda, Rudi Assauer, Ötte Tibulsky, Berni Klodt or Herbert Burdenski. Hardly anyone there. Also at the office. A folder is watching. But what actually? Empty on Schalke. The processing of the drama does not take place in a collective. Not for the players who have that day off. Not for the fans, who for the most part do shift work.
The words of Gerald Asamoah got stuck in the calm. In tears he announced on the evening of finality: “I can imagine how many Schalke fans are sitting at home in front of the television and crying. We have all disappointed. Wearing the Schalke emblem means a lot and the question arises of whether everyone understood that. Everyone should ask themselves whether they have done everything to keep the club alive. ” It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to mean the players. A little unfortunate comes from the fact that national player Suat Serdar speaks in the current “Sport Bild” with all the credibly declared suffering of his situation at Schalke that he wants to play regularly in the Champions League and win titles.
These are sentences that make Asamoah’s character question from late Tuesday evening even more urgent. Especially with a team that has been accused of being soulless for months. “If you’re bottom of the table and have 13 points – and someone says he gave it everything, then I don’t know what I would do with him. Wearing Schalke’s colors means a lot, and the question is whether that is all understood. ” Coach Dimitrios Grammozis, the fifth in the current season, who had always defended his players, criticized their attitude for the first time – even if only indirectly. “We have to see that we can get guys back for the club who are worthy of the badge,” he said. Boys, “they know what Schalke is, what they are getting into and what the requirements are.” He wanted “to put a team on the pitch that the fans can be proud of again”.
They are sentences that you will surely like to hear in Gelsenkirchen. Because they are different from sets of big dreams in the midst of big drama. One can hardly blame Grammozis – he was given much more the task of accompanying the descent professionally anyway. (Which he succeeded only reasonably.) Back to the pump room at Schalker Markt. “Ker, if I read something like that, then … oh, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to work.”
During the night the mood was different. Not an indifferent one, an explosive one. A professional who wants to remain anonymous reports on Sport1 how he experienced the escalation: “We were told loudly and clearly that we should be ashamed and that all players who will not be here next year should piss off immediately . If that doesn’t happen, our lives would be really made hell. Then we were pelted with eggs. Then a firecracker went off and the situation escalated completely. The fans attacked us. From then on we just ran. That was fear I was just running. Some of us were kicked and kicked. I’m shocked and don’t know how we’re going to play the next few games. “
Only a few meters behind the arena, Schalke is suddenly green. Fields. Yards. Another world. Still in the Ruhr area. The city of a thousand fires, it is only a small horizon away. The club is more present in the street Ellinghorst than in any other street here. The balconies, a small museum in royal blue. Anyone like to talk here “Only if you want to know the way.” No, about Schalke. “No, it ain’t. It sucks.” The Schalke Mile is not far away either. A one-off on the main street. More blue and white commitment to football, to the club in a confined space – that is not possible. Driving school, upholstery, fan initiatives and photos of legends everywhere: In addition to the very old ones, Ebbe Sand, Jiri Nemec, Martin Max. Eurofighters and goalscorer with club DNA. A player from the current line-up will certainly never say hello from the walls of the building. On a house directly opposite the Schalker Meile stop it says: “Board members, players and coaches leave, only fans are always there.” Everything is right. Even in league two. Certainly.
Visit to the baker. “Watt want it?”
“Coffee with milk.”
“Another watt?”
“What do you say to Schalke?”
“Boy, what should I say: shit. But we’ll be back.”
Giving up, they don’t know that at Schalke. No matter how bad the situation is: relegations, fraud, scandals, existence-threatening situation. Royal blue fights. “Please, please come back very quickly,” tweeted Mesut Özil, who was born in Gelsenkirchen and began his professional career at Schalke. “We come back!” wrote Julian Draxler, born in neighboring Gladbeck. And also a Schalke soccer boy. There were also encouraging greetings from Spain. Sevilla FC tweeted in German – grammatically incorrect -: “Especially in dark times you have to stick together. Buddy, drive out of the shaft soon. LUCKY!”
Which players should drive the club out of the shaft in the future? Completely unclear, almost the entire squad is up for discussion. A few talents will certainly remain, possibly also a Ralf Fährmann. But otherwise? Hardly anyone has advertised themselves. Which could also make a great future difficult for other clubs. For comparison: After a horror second half of 2020, the team started the season with a market value of 160 million euros; according to Transfermarkt.de, it is currently at a good 108 million. Means: 52 million (that’s how much a David Alaba or an Ousmane Dembélé are worth) the Gelsenkirchen footballers played …
A drinks market on the way to the city center. Few visitors, lots of crates of beer. Suddenly someone yells: “Do you have champagne too?”
“Do you still have them all? Schalke has been relegated. [Pause] But look at the front left, there is it. “
.