The alarm is once again ringing in the football city of Gelsenkirchen, where the club management has been seriously considering the possibility of relegation to the third division for several weeks. The squad is arguing, the economic situation is as precarious as usual, and the team is playing crisis football that is difficult to tolerate.
A beautiful thought that Karel Geraerts put into words before the duel against FC St. Pauli this Friday (6:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the second division and on Sky) was almost lost in the confusion of the progressive decline: Yes The pressure is already great, said the coach of the Revierklub, “but on the other hand: It’s a nice game. We’re playing against the number one, against the team with the most goals, with the most chances, the best passing game, it’s the best opponent we can have right now.” Feelings like this, the anticipation of an upcoming game, were a lot too often in the background over the past few months, in which the club never found a suitable attitude to the relegation battle.