A Thin Line Beteween Success And Failure . . .
New signings were not ordinary or frequent for a club like Union Berlin, thriving upon limited funds. I was forced to stick with my current squad of players, and this did really raise the irritation level, but I needed the job and kept a low profile for the next few games.
The most memorable performance would have to be our away (ironically) match against Saarbrucken. We went in to half-time all level at 3-3, and I was briefing my team to attack more and decided to slot Georg Frosese to a more advanced attacking position, in the hope that we could niche a late winner without conceding. Unfortunately for us, Kremonliev was red-carded in the second half for shirt tugging and his subsequent denial. It was a dubious decision, but I had to make quick changes. I reverted the formation, to resemble a more conservative 4-3-2, and it worked wonders. Chifon, Froese and Durkovic produced a swashbuckling performance and more importantly 3 blinding goals late in to the second half, to produce an unprecedented 6-3 win. The word "Promotion" or "Wir werden gefördert" if I remember correctly were ringing around the stadium, but I chose to ignore it.
After the match at the press conference, I was asked to comment on my sides chances of promotion, and not wanting swollen heads in my team, I played down the talk of the media and claimed that there was still a winding road ahead of us to conquer. Unfortunately, I was proved right, Union Berlin fell in to what was one of its worst string of defeats. We lost 3 games straight and only scored 1 in all 3. It was completely amazing, how my side could so easily produce "Carlos*yle and Hyde" performances, depending on their moral and mood. The Board's concern was expressed through Ivon Zolvech a major share-holder of the club, the next afternoon during training, after he informed me that while the board is delighted with my general performance as manager, but very concerned with our current performace.
We were in reality only 5 points away from a possible promotion spot, but with 10 games to go and 4 very good and tough sides ahead of us in goal difference and points to a promotion spot, it looked a distant dream. Several of my first team players refused to extend their respective contracts- another sign of the lack of confidence in our promotion chase this season.
Every remaining game would be a World Cup game for us, if we were to stand any chance of being in the First division next season.