Why is it that so many players are leaving Gladbach? Is it just the lack of a European Cup or is it Virkus’ fault who just doesn’t do a good job?
I’m not surprised at all. The trend is your friend, or not. The players, who have now become 100% mercenaries, know this too. By the way, I don’t blame the players, the professional football system is the basis for the current situation.
I’ve been here on tm.de since 2006 (I’ve unsubscribed in the meantime) and I’m now amazed at the typical reactions of the fans (of all clubs, by the way) when players change like this. The size of the club, the tradition, the atmosphere, these are all just soft factors for the pros. The hard factors are the development opportunities, the expected playing time, the career plan, the sporting perspective of the club and of course, in the end, the money.
And all of that has gotten significantly worse for us compared to 2018. Hofmann doesn’t have a single hard factor in staying at Gladbach. Leverkusen is more attractive than Gladbach in all important respects.
Furthermore, one shouldn’t forget that he would have gone on a free transfer had he not renewed. So here I would even say that he did the club a favor by extending the contract.
Because of this development, players mean nothing to me anymore, Stindl, Hofmann, or whoever? For me, there are no more legends, even if many will probably tell me now: Stindl and mercenaries? He was only at 3 clubs. But he was only because it fit the sport (Müller, who for me is also a mercenary par excellence, just a child of his time, and Bavaria would also be a good example). The fact that he is and was a full-blooded professional who always gave everything for his clubs deserves every honor. A reliable and honorable mercenary, but a mercenary.
The only things that matter to me are the fans and the atmosphere in the stadium, the sporting down on the pitch has become completely interchangeable. I finally became aware of that with the Eberl/Rose case, which has meanwhile also caught the officials and coaches, who are meanwhile no better than the players.
this “only” for the soft factors irritates me a bit. because if you take it exactly. was that ever different?
i can’t really remember any professional ever saying he’s moving to club xy because the atmosphere there is so great, there were always other factors that made the difference, the same with the traditions or the size of the club.
for the player these are not and were not real factors, not even for a fan. What do I care about the size of the club if I have no connection to it, unless I’m a fan of success or follow some hype. the same with the much trampled tradition. whenever i hear the traditional club xy should play in league 1. Why? just because you were a number back then and what you have won on which this whole “tradition” is based and that was so long ago that most of the fans didn’t even experience it?! every club (!) has traditions, the only question is whether you want to cling to the past or whether you want to continue telling the story.
With many traditional clubs, I have the feeling that it’s the latter. You claim to be in a higher profession, just building on that old story, but forgetting that you have to earn success every season. and a lot of those clubs have had good years but just can’t get the hang of it, whether it’s because of bad management, transfer failures, poor team composition or just not being able to handle money. ironically, various blue and white stories come to mind, where you sometimes squandered a lot of money senselessly.
in addition, the traditions that are meant here are only about success anyway and the longer it has been, the less interesting it becomes for current players and fans, because current results and circumstances count.
And that’s where the hard facts count. In addition to the success of the team, there are also the opportunities that you can have individually at the club. When you were young, the development prospects, seasons and in the late autumn of your career also the last big salary or the chance of a title. if you have your stuff dry by then, it will quickly become romantic, as we all wish it would be. the change to the youth club, the extension with going into retirement as a club legend, etc.
and even with the legends you have to differentiate again in the end. Is the status based on a long club membership or maybe on one or two formative moments (e.g. championship, cup win etc)
At the end of the day, as you wrote, it is and will always be a business. and if you take it exactly, many clubs behave no differently. Both sides see what is best for them and then draw the necessary conclusions.
whether a manager, sporting director, president or anyone else stands up and promises their subordinates to back them up, only to stab them in the back when they turn around and present the successor the next day, or if players are sold off when they are no longer with the club fit into the concept (or the stuff). why should the players do it differently at this point? and some people may have ambitions to develop themselves or to win a title, if that doesn’t work with the current club then you change or get suggested by the club that the common path ends here and you should look for a new employer. if the suitcase of money is waving somewhere, with which you can double or multiply your salary, then that is understandable somewhere. we probably wouldn’t do it any differently. it’s just that in the rarest of cases a company knocks on our door that waves the big bundle and you would give up your current job for it.
If you take a closer look, we are all mercenaries somewhere. even if we’d rather ask “so what do you do for a living” than “so what do you do for money”, in the end the sums are smaller, but the business isn’t much different. as an employee, i want the best possible job, development opportunities, a good environment and to feel good. if the net fits, sooner or later it will become something new, as long as you find something. and if the AG considers that you want to change and you no longer fit into the concept, you will also go somewhere…. and in the end there is money that keeps the wheel turning and, if possible, with success.
and it’s a similar story with the fans when it comes to loyalty. there are people like that and it doesn’t matter which club you’re with in the stadium. If things go well, everyone is very enthusiastic, if things don’t go well, things can quickly change. who is really loyal and who stands by the team even in bad times, you usually only see when the worst has come and you don’t just whistle at the team or burn your scarf, but continue to cheer them on until things improve again.
where i am completely with you is that there have been many negative examples in the recent past, where even as a neutral football fan you have already felt fooled. the examples you mentioned would have come up directly in my focus. true “legends” have become rare.
at the end of the day we all wish for the football fairy tale and dream of the sentimentally perfect football world, but the reality is a little different and more business. it starts with the fact that you need several paytv channels to be able to see all the games