Hamburg Info-Thread Q&A

[FatFreddysCat]

Thanks to that wonderful chap Tizzard on Cottage Corner the Thomas Reid pub in the Reeperbahn which has named itself the unofficial Fulham party pub  will now probably be serving beer in plastic pints after he replied to a thread started by the owner of the pub suggesting that after the trouble in Wolfsburg he hopes he's got loads of plastic glasses. What an absolute C**T, i was drinking there the other week and it's a great pub, but if i walked in and it was plastic glasses i'd walk straight back out again, so thanks Tizzard for fecking it up if we make the final. Oh Smokers will be pleased to know they unofficially allow smoking, you dont get ashtrays, but stub it on the floor. For me being a non smoker it was a downside, but didn't really bother me.

[Pata]

Edit: Phone your Queen and ask for royal horses! Her family is from Hannover!  :dft012:

[\geek alert]
Well, the original chaps were of Braunschweig-Luneburg-Calenberg-Hannover but that ended with Victoria, so after that it was Albert's Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha title that went to Edward VII.
[geek alert]

[Pata]

smj, how do HSV fans view the job that Martin Jol did with the team last season? Pleased or sad to see him go?

[smj]

smj, how do HSV fans view the job that Martin Jol did with the team last season? Pleased or sad to see him go?

He was loved for his way of dealing with media and fans, but as a final judgement he was one of those coaches who couldn't really give the team a basic tactical order. At least that's my opinion. In the end, he was in line with so many coaches we had, that started strong with the team but did not manage to keep the team strong for the most important matchdays, which are - we all know it - the ones at the end of the season. Let's say, we were quite happy to have him and were convinced, but towards the end there were some disappointments and the way he left wasn't that cool.

[Chopper]

smj, how do HSV fans view the job that Martin Jol did with the team last season? Pleased or sad to see him go?

He was loved for his way of dealing with media and fans, but as a final judgement he was one of those coaches who couldn't really give the team a basic tactical order. At least that's my opinion. In the end, he was in line with so many coaches we had, that started strong with the team but did not manage to keep the team strong for the most important matchdays, which are - we all know it - the ones at the end of the season. Let's say, we were quite happy to have him and were convinced, but towards the end there were some disappointments and the way he left wasn't that cool.

What's the view of your current manager, Bruno Labbadia? An improvement or too early to tell?

[smj]

In the first third of the season, we've had the impression, that this is going to be our coaching messias. We played wonderful attacking football, it was heaven. By now he's under fire, an easy target. He made so many mistakes in tactical issues, has problems with parts of the team and is just too unexperienced. To be honest, out team is not really easy to coach. And he had to deal with so many injuries. Mentioned it before, never ever seen anything like this season.

People and media are talking quite frankly about a  new coach to come for next year. Well, but we all know football business, don't we?

[Pata]

What do generally you think of the HSV's policy towards the club's managers historically? If I am not mistaken, in the Bundesliga era, only the legendary Ernst Happel managed more than 4 years in charge and that coincided with the club's most successful period. Do you think Hamburg's managers get enough time to think about and methodically build a side?

[Mr Fulham]

As I said: You'll find some idiots and even racists in every larger group of people, especially when you're talking about more than 50.000.

The majority of player/fan-incidents in german football clubs DO happen in Hamburg. Tell me a place where it happens more frequently than at HSV-matches. Not even in Dresden.

We are the easiest going fan base in the Premiership but we still have some cretins,      

Every fanbase has it's idiots and bad apples. But there are more than enough in Hamburg.

Anyway, I hope that there won't be problems. And I understand that you prefer Germany over the spanish and - especially - the italian clubs. They are definitely more brutal and tougher than the germans.

[Pata]

On a non-footballing front, could you perhaps recommend a good place or two for good local beer (perhaps, straight from a local brewery) that's mostly for locals but wouldn't mind a few foreigners joining in?

[Pata]

As I said: You'll find some idiots and even racists in every larger group of people, especially when you're talking about more than 50.000.

The majority of player/fan-incidents in german football clubs DO happen in Hamburg. Tell me a place where it happens more frequently than at HSV-matches. Not even in Dresden.

Might that is be because "Sheiss" Dynamo Dresden fans are more heavily policed and don't get 50,000? A bunch of us went to a Union Berlin* - Dynamo Dresden match 3 years ago - lost count of the number of police vans.

*My German team now - a GREAT bunch.

Do they not get quite a lot of trouble at the match in the Ruhr?

[smj]

What do generally you think of the HSV's policy towards the club's managers historically? If I am not mistaken, in the Bundesliga era, only the legendary Ernst Happel managed more than 4 years in charge and that coincided with the club's most successful period. Do you think Hamburg's managers get enough time to think about and methodically build a side?

Very good question, you are perfectly informed!

You see, Happel is somehow the godfather of HSV as a coach, the godfather of success. We had quite a long period after Happel, when both club and fans thought, that success is coming along the way just like that. That was the basis for many years of problems. In addition to that, we kept most players after these unbelievable years when we dominated the league and had huge success in Europe. Nice to see them for a longer time, but it was exactly the beginning of a new era in football, where selling players and making money for rebuilding a new and successful team became essential. We missed that point.

So my opinion is quite perfectly described in a saying:

Continuity doesn't create success, success creates continuity. At least in football.

[Mr Fulham]

Do you think Hamburg's managers get enough time to think about and methodically build a side?

The managers don't get enough time to build a team. Thomas Doll was sacked although he was a young coach with much potential, Martin Jol went away after an alleged bust-up with the club management and Bruno Labbadia's HSV-career is still  in a "touch and go"-mode.

If Hamburg lose to Fulham and quit their Europa League campaign without getting into the (home) final, then he definitely will be sacked.

[smj]

As I said: You'll find some idiots and even racists in every larger group of people, especially when you're talking about more than 50.000.

The majority of player/fan-incidents in german football clubs DO happen in Hamburg. Tell me a place where it happens more frequently than at HSV-matches. Not even in Dresden.

We are the easiest going fan base in the Premiership but we still have some cretins,      

Every fanbase has it's idiots and bad apples. But there are more than enough in Hamburg.

Anyway, I hope that there won't be problems. And I understand that you prefer Germany over the spanish and - especially - the italian clubs. They are definitely more brutal and tougher than the germans.

Sorry, I really can't take that any serious. You're talking about two incidents within years. And I already explained, that the second one can hardly be classified as racist. Even the Atouba-incident was never quoted with any reliable sources. Just that he had been insulted.

Player-Fan-Problems in Hamburg? So often? Give me some more examples please. When we were near relegation a few years ago the fans stood behind players and club as one. Please compare to other clubs. To be honest, I think you try to transport some rejection here. Could you please answer my question about your favourite club?


Edit: Thomas Doll had no idea how to bring tactics into the game. He is very well known as the man that has created more gaps in HSV-Play than you would ever find in certain bars on the Reeperbahn.

[Pata]

Continuity doesn't create success, success creates continuity. At least in football.

Well, I think that also depends on the definition of "success". Perhaps, several years of gradual improvement rather than immediate cups/championships within a year or two (OK, it does depend on your starting point)?

Perhaps, I am slightly conservative but I prefer a patient approach. For example, Bill Shankly, after the initial success at Liverpool went 7 (seven) years w/o a trophy - midway through that period hea realised that the team needed some major surgery and the people running the club gave him that time and we all know what happened afterwards. OK, it was a different age but...

would you want to see your current manager go if the, say, you don't win the Europa League and continue the indifferent form in the Bundesliga? It's only his 1st season in charge, he is very young, so perhaps he can draw certain conclusions from this season and ensure this doesn't happen again?

[Pata]

He is very well known as the man that has created more gaps in HSV-Play than you would ever find in certain bars on the Reeperbahn.

How does that sound in German? (I did German in school and I suspect there is a pun in there somewhere :))

[smj]

He is very well known as the man that has created more gaps in HSV-Play than you would ever find in certain bars on the Reeperbahn.

How does that sound in German? (I did German in school and I suspect there is a pun in there somewhere :))

I feared that this can't be understood, bad english and a try to translate expressions in a certain context, that can't be translated.

Reeperbahn is one of Europe's largest red districts, I do not dare to explain more. ;-)

[Mr Fulham]

And I already explained, that the second on can hardly be classified as racist.

Really? Do you know what that idiot said to Guerrero?

Give me some more examples please.

Atouba, Guerrero, Demel was reviled a few years ago in a time when he wasn't in form, David Rozenhal is booed and abused at nearly every match from a bulk.

Especially after the tragical death of Robert Enke, what should have been a "memorial" for fans not to exhaust their players, the insanity continues - as I said - not only in Hamburg, but in the whole football world.

This one fact (Guerrero) alone should be a big concern to club and fans.

Could you please answer my question about your favourite club?

I'm posting on a Fulham FC messageboard - I don't know what you are doing here - I take pride in the words: I am a Fulham supporter.

But let's leave the discussion at that point. You have your views and I've got mine.

[Pata]

He is very well known as the man that has created more gaps in HSV-Play than you would ever find in certain bars on the Reeperbahn.

How does that sound in German? (I did German in school and I suspect there is a pun in there somewhere :))

I feared that this can't be understood, bad english and a try to translate expressions in a certain context, that can't be translated.

Reeperbahn is one of Europe's largest red districts, I do not dare to explain more. ;-)

I think the meaning came across prefectly well :) I just wondered what it sounded like in German.

[FatFreddysCat]

Mr Fulham i'm glad you are a Fulham supporter, but SMJ is being very friendly and extremly helpful to us, so perhaps you sould ease up a bit on him eh?

[smj]

On a non-footballing front, could you perhaps recommend a good place or two for good local beer (perhaps, straight from a local brewery) that's mostly for locals but wouldn't mind a few foreigners joining in?

This one's okay

http://www.groeninger-hamburg.de/