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Page 1 — Once the Champions League – and back
Page 2 — A team for 14th place
Union Berlin fans were able to read about a parable on Facebook these days. It describes the plot of an old ZDF film: mother and daughter, well-off, kept meeting a homeless man with a Santa Claus beard in a playground who, satisfied with his simple life, told the girl the most amazing stories. The girl loved it. When she became ill, the mother came up with the idea of washing and clothing the homeless man and letting him live in her apartment so that he would cheer the girl up again. But the homeless man, used to the open air, could no longer make a sound. The bird could no longer sing in the golden cage. Just as the Union Berlin players, who were just carefree boys, lost their very special skills on the dazzling stage of the Champions League, it is said.
More on the topic: Union Berlin
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The nature of every parable includes a certain amount of skewness, but also a certain amount of truth. So: Anyone who showed up at 1. FC Union Berlin in the last millennium saw a friendly suburban club with a few thousand semi-proletarian East Berlin fans who were watering and enjoying their football plants as far away as possible from inner-city Berlin. They liked to isolate themselves in their Köpenick village so that everything remained as it always was: an oasis of somewhat tolerable football, friendship, beer and bratwurst.
But because in these times nothing stays the same everywhere, Union rose to the Bundesliga in 2019 through tough, disciplined and no-frills combat football. Four years later, the conspiratorial racing devils entered the Champions League, the dream of all football fans and big earners in the football business came true.
All football fans? No. The older Union players had mixed feelings about the success because they suspected what was to come for their club. The gray mouse suddenly found itself faced with enormous sporting and economic challenges brought about by the global football market.
Suddenly everyone wanted to become a fan. Within a few years the association grew to 60,000 members. But only about 20,000 of them fit into the An der Alten Försterei stadium. But if only a third of the fans are allowed to visit the beloved club, this leads to envy and resentment. The Champions League games in the Olympic Stadium in turn increased the contradictions because the long-established Unioners suddenly found themselves confronted with a large mass of party people who perceived the Union as a mainstream event and wanted to see good football. The old people look critically at the new people, who they consider to be so-called success fans and half-Swabians.
In terms of sport, Union was never as good as the club was made out to be by football explainers. The coach Urs Fischer ordered his kickers: Be annoying, bilious, torment the opponent, force him to make mistakes and hit when he makes them. This simple concept, which Fischer did not embellish with intellectuality, was implemented precisely by his average, but willing to learn and hard-working players. The Union fans loved their Urs for his simple messages and straightforward game. Fischer gave boring interviews that were recorded because of their unusual success, like the seven and a half letter of Moses.
But Union is not as bad as it is currently made out to be. In the Bundesliga and the Champions League, they have often just needed a little bit of luck to achieve success.
Union Berlin fans were able to read about a parable on Facebook these days. It describes the plot of an old ZDF film: mother and daughter, well-off, kept meeting a homeless man with a Santa Claus beard in a playground who, satisfied with his simple life, told the girl the most amazing stories. The girl loved it. When she became ill, the mother came up with the idea of washing and clothing the homeless man and letting him live in her apartment so that he would cheer the girl up again. But the homeless man, used to the open air, could no longer make a sound. The bird could no longer sing in the golden cage. Just as the Union Berlin players, who were just carefree boys, lost their very special skills on the dazzling stage of the Champions League, it is said.
