It’s about time that Mainz finally got relegated, the club doesn’t belong in League 1. But thanks to Bochum, Heidenheim and Darmstadt they’re still in there, while clubs like HSV, Schalke, Hertha and Nuremberg are in the 2nd League.
Do you need a tissue?
You definitely need historical enlightenment about the role of Mainz in German football and the moral implications of the importance of being a real “club” while at the same time being economically stable.
I don’t think Mainz doesn’t belong in the 1st division, but what do you mean by “Mainz’s role in German football”? To be honest, apart from carnival, I have practically nothing in common with the club and it seems almost interchangeable, what is the role of Mainz?
Mainz certainly had its big seasons in the Bundesliga, I’m thinking of the Tuchel “rock stars” in 2010/11. Mainz still stands for quick changeover football, you can lose against Union. Of course, Mainz is not a big club and is more likely to be assigned to the gray mice, but they have had one of the best youth academies in Germany for years, a great permeability and bring sustainable homegrown talent into the league. Baku, Zentner, Florian Müller, Dahmen, Bell, Barreiro, Serdar, Burkardt, Nebel. Two promising talents played again against Union with Weiper and Gruda.
As a result, Mainz always has the potential to put together a good team from within.
Both Union and Hertha can learn a lot from that. Union has so far paid little attention to youth work, but that is changing now. And Hertha wasted its gigantic potential from its own youth work until the big Windhorst bang. Which is changing now. Mainz achieves what both Union and Hertha both want for different reasons…
What is still to add to the dear colleague is the role of the association.
With the introduction of the back four + space coverage, M05 under Wolfgang Frank revolutionized German football from the 2nd division. Two-time German U19 champion and one of the best youth academies in the country with one of the best permeability of youth to the professional team in the upper house at a time when both unsustainable youth work and internationalization of the clubs are lamented. Not to mention our trainer forge. Everyone sees Bo Svensson as the next Kloppo or Tuchel and doesn’t realize that Marco Rose already has 2 titles under his belt. Why rose? Because he didn’t become a coach at RB Are some ex-05s currently on the road?
In terms of sport, we’re not that bad either. With the resurgence, M05 had not been in a relegation zone for more than 10 years (!) until the crisis, which only FCB managed to do at that time. 3x internationally qualified in less than 15 years of league history, nobody believed us capable of that either. The second half of the league history from 2 years ago speaks for itself. Don’t know what else people want to ask from a club that wasn’t created from scratch.
The most important emphasis here is on the word “club”. In contrast to most clubs, including the so-called traditional clubs, Mainz is still a 100% registered club. The structures are completely aligned with the base. The traditionalists want their club to build up the club we enjoy in Mainz.
Financially, other rules also apply than for GmbHs, AGs and you haven’t seen them. Key word: profit. May not have an eV as a savings. All financial income has to be reinvested according to a program and yet M05 was one of the few clubs to survive C19 financially well, even without the necessary player sales. Not everyone could claim that.
So no, M05 doesn’t fill a 50,000 stadium, but it’s also absolutely understandable for the two neighbors with their few years more in league 1. Also, M05 wasn’t there in the early stages of the 1st league, which is why you deny the tradition, because the good years in the 20s and early 30s don’t count, because of reasons.
But M05 is the most extreme antithesis to the RBs, VWs and whatever else exists. When fans of various second division clubs get upset that we’re in the first division and some traditional clubs aren’t, then we can say with a relaxed shrug and with complete justification: Well, not our problem. Don’t yell at us for doing everything right, but at those who paved the way for some construct.