a écrit le 31 juillet 2013 à 18h12 But as early as 1997, there were young managers such as Armin Veh at Fürth, Ralf Rangnick at Ulm or Joachim Löw at Stuttgart who were following in Finke's footsteps. And so Freiburg had to cast the net wider as they attempted to replace no less than sixteen players who had left when the club got relegated.
Finke and his scouts looked for and found players, often in pairs, in places such as Mali, Tunisia and Georgia. There was a bit of grumbling among the support (a famous banner said: 'Hello Finke! You're allowed to speak German in the second division, too!'), but nothing silences critics as quickly as success.
Freiburg finished in second place and bounced straight back to the Bundesliga. Yet again the side were promoted as the highest-scoring team even though there wasn't a single striker who scored more than seven goals. It was just like old times, and Kicker magazine dutifully celebrated the club's return with the headline 'Back to the future'.
But some of the old magic had gone. The team still played a modern passing game and still stunned the league from time to time, such as when they reached the UEFA Cup again in 2001. But as sensational as this achievement was, the applause no longer came as loud as it used to.
Finke and his scouts looked for and found players, often in pairs, in places such as Mali, Tunisia and Georgia. There was a bit of grumbling among the support (a famous banner said: 'Hello Finke! You're allowed to speak German in the second division, too!'), but nothing silences critics as quickly as success.
Freiburg finished in second place and bounced straight back to the Bundesliga. Yet again the side were promoted as the highest-scoring team even though there wasn't a single striker who scored more than seven goals. It was just like old times, and Kicker magazine dutifully celebrated the club's return with the headline 'Back to the future'.
But some of the old magic had gone. The team still played a modern passing game and still stunned the league from time to time, such as when they reached the UEFA Cup again in 2001. But as sensational as this achievement was, the applause no longer came as loud as it used to.
