This article is going to be a bit of a mixed bag in terms of topics covered, so forgive me if it’s not all strictly about West Ham, but a lack of transfer news means I have to look beyond our beloved Hammers. Although with regard to 1860 Munich there is of course a West Ham link: It was 52 years ago, at Wembley, May 19th 1965, one of the greatest days in our history with West Ham beating 1860 Munich in the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final. I wasn’t around for that one of course, being born in 1972.
But I am sure a few of my readers watched that game live on the telly or maybe even were lucky enough to be in attendance at Wembley, Now then, this famous German club with a great history, who were Munich’s Number One Team for a long time, far ahead of Bayern Munich in terms of success and status, this traditional and much loved club has now been relegated.
Due to the confusing nature of the circumstances affecting the club nobody can say at this point in which league 1860 Munich will actually play next season after losing a two legged playoff affair against Bavarian neighbours Jahn Regensburg last week.
That final decisive game was marred by crowd trouble from frustrated Munich “supporters” who were hurling seats, iron railings and other assorted goods onto the pitch, venting their anger and possibly trying to get the match, which was already lost 15 minutes from time as Munich needed to score three goals at that point, abandoned.
While I have no affiliation with the City of Munich or 1860 as such it does pain me to see a club like this go under and while I don’t pretend to know all the finer details of the inner workings of that particular club it is clear to see that the arrival of Jordanian businessman and sports investor Hasan Ismaik six years ago didn’t quite work out.
He initially saved the club from administration in 2011 by spending 18 million Euros, buying a majority stake of shares in the club. His dreams were big, getting 1860 promoted back to the Bundesliga in a year or two, making the Champions League places five years later, building a new state of the art stadium and moving into its news premises just in time for CL football.
The trouble though is that in Germany there is the so called 50+1 rule, a rule implemented to make sure that no club can be taken over and run by one big company or investor.
In Germany football clubs are still intended to be mainly football clubs, in theory at least as there are exceptions to the rule like the old works club Bayer Leverkusen or Hanover 96.
1860 Munich went through 14 different managers in just 6 years while investor Ismaik and local representatives from the club hierarchy rarely sang from the same hymnsheet.
There were various scandals, affairs, shenanigans which you can easily google if you’re interested, but after spending an estimated 60 million Euros so far, Ismaik has now refused to pay the required sum for 1860 to play in Bundesliga 3 next season unless he gets full reign at the club. Which he obviously can’t due to the 50+1 rule.
Which Ismaik is now suing against. At the other end of the spectrum are the loyal fans who will now have to watch their team play in the Regionalliga Bayern (4th level) at best. Maybe even the Bayernliga (5th level) which is the same level as my beloved Concordia.
I don’t know about you, but I feel awfully sad when I see a club, rich in history and tradition, go down the pan like this through the ineptitude of people in suit and tie, ruining that club from within by being selfish and also pretty clueless about how to run a football club. It’s a massive warning sign this as to what can happen to clubs in a short space of time if you have the wrong people making vital decisions. Money helps of course, but it isn’t everything. It’s how you spend it and how you treat the people working for your club. Dark times then for 1860 Munich and their fanbase.
Some positive news now comes in shape of a rumour that West Ham will indeed play a preseason friendly near Hamburg, albeit not against Concordia, but we have already discussed the reasons why that game ain’t happening anytime soon. However, apparently West Ham will play Bundesliga marinated Werder Bremen in the beautiful town of Luebeck which is about 40 miles northeast of Hamburg. In all likelihood it will happen sometime between July 20th and the end of the same month. I will keep you posted on this as surely some of you will be keen to fly over for that one.
Both Hamburg and Luebeck are places worth visiting, Luebeck boasting a strikingly beautiful Old Town. So if you can make the short trip over the Channel, do it! The football ground in Luebeck holds around 17.500, but I’m not sure at this point how many tickets would be allocated to the away support. Please get one ticket for me as well please.
If I phoned up Bremen about tickets surely they would only sell a ticket in the home end to a German customer like myself.
And before I stand with Werder Bremen fans you will see me sharing a canoe without a paddle on the River Thames with a Millwall, a Spurs and a Chelsea fan.
The next rumour is about young Reece Oxford. After his frustrating loan spell at Reading, he will now apparently leave Britain for an even bigger challenge to join Borussia Moenchengladbach for a season long loan. Yes, THAT team from Germany that Scottish pub owners and football fans alike were struggling/failing to spell, never mind pronounce properly. I will keep my eyes and ears open on Oxford’s exploits in Germany next season and will try to keep you all in the loop accordingly.
As you probably know by now, I do have a lot of time for Moenchengladbach as a club. They were my first favourite football club ever as a kid (as I liked the look of their shirts, back in the days of black and white TV), they are a club similar in size and status to West Ham, steeped in history, renowned for playing a distinctive style of football, renowned for their passionate and truly loyal fanbase, but also notorious for a distinctive lack of trophies in the cabinet.
They also have a history of bringing through and playing young players, hence their nickname Die Fohlenelf, The Foals’ Eleven.
And they do have, in my view, one of the most beautiful football stadiums on the planet. What I would give if we could play our home games in a claret and blue version of that!
Young Reece has a perfect opportunity to kickstart his career there. A prime example of a recent successful loan deal has been Chelsea’s Andreas Christensen who developed into one of the Bundesliga’s most complete young defenders during his two year loan spell at Moenchengladbach. He is now back at Chelsea and will no doubt be a great player for them in the years ahead.
Another positive for Oxford will be the hiring of Otto Addo, a German former attacking midfielder born in Hamburg who played for the Ghana national side and also for Hanover, Dortmund, Mainz and Hamburg SV. He has also been a youth coach at Hamburg before working as assistant manager at Nordsjaelland in Denmark later and now in his current role at Moenchengladbach.
It will be Addo’s job to work exclusively with Borussia’s top prospects, nurturing their talents and skills (which would include young Reece) bringing them up to first team level. Still, Oxford would need to work his socks off as Moechengladbach are pretty well covered defensively, so he would really need to step up and shine in order to actually start games and keep his place in the side. Moenchengladbach tend to loan players for a minimum of two years though, so it remains to be seen if Oxford may be an exception with just a one year deal.
That’s all from me this week lads and lassies! Hope we’ll be hearing some good news on the transfer front soon and also some more details on that West Ham friendly in Luebeck. COYI!!!