The fans called...

…and the players came. During the fan protests in Wolfsburg Christoph Metzelder had promised to come to a meeting with those protesting and that he would try to convince some more players to come along. So on Tuesday evening about 50 fans and some of Borussias German players came to the discussion organized by the Fanprojekt.


Especially Christoph Metzelder had interceded with the other players for this conversation, so Sebastian Kehl, Roman Weidenfeller, Stefan Reuter and his Malte Metzelder came with him to talk about the fans’ frustrations, but also to discuss their own concerns.
One has to appreciate that players such as Kehl and C. Metzelder seem to be actually interested in the fans’ problems, but unfortunately it looks like it’s always the same players who really care.
According to Metze and Co. there were two main reasons why no other players came to this meeting. Reason one was that Borussias foreigners would not be capable of taking part in such a conversation due to their limited knowledge of the German language. And the other reason was that coming to this meeting was, of course, not mandatory.

Many players simply seem to be not interested in the fans at all and obviously it is impossible for them to spend three hours of their free time to work out some issues. The overall impression that some players lack identification with club, region and fans appears to be proven.
If a player who has been a member of the team for many years is not able to communicate with the fans then something must be wrong. Obviously this is a sign of no integration and it rather suggests that there are many different groups within the team, so for example there is no need for the Brazilian players to learn German as long as they only talk to the other Brazilian players belonging to this group.
Although the players who had actually come to this meeting were the wrong to address, the fans moaned that many of the players had a lack of respect for them. They don’t show any gratitude for the fans’ support, especially after away matches, while everybody who took part in the conversation agreed that it was those gestures which show that the players not only take notice of the fans but also respect them.
The five promised that they would try to improve the situation, but the young players had to admit that they could not make the older players do something they do not want.

But the players had to criticise something as well. With the new capacity the atmosphere in the Westfalenstadion is not very supportive. Sebastian Kehl described how he is influenced by the negative reactions of the terraces. If the performance on the pitch is not convincing the first people start booing after 20 minutes. Kehl admitted that because of this he often tenses up and so winning the game becomes much easier for the visiting team, as one could see two weeks ago against Stuttgart.
The majority of the fans at the meeting agreed. After doubling the capacity of the stadium within ten years only, many people see a visit of the Westfalenstadion as entertainment. It does not happen very often anymore that the whole audience actually supports its team. Of course it is especially those new spectators who pay much money for their tickets and as a paying customer one more or less has the right to criticise the performance on the pitch. But everybody at the meeting agreed that these complaints should be restricted to the half time or the final whistle and that one should not pick on single players and blame them for everything.
The players were also able to distinguish between those spectators and the ones who support their team anywhere and at any time. Especially at away matches one could realize that. But if this is true it is quite difficult to understand why the team does not express their thanks to the fans for their support, neither in Freiburg, nor in Madrid, nor in Mailand and so they get even the most loyal fans’ back up.

Roman Weidenfeller had something to add to this topic as well. He said that the reactions of the audience as well as negative press articles made him feel quite insecure. He showed, however, that he sees his future in Dortmund and that he is distinguished to work hard for the club. These statements pleased the fans because they appeared to be honest.

Altogether especially Weidenfeller and Kehl said that some of their reasons to come to Borussia had been the stadium, the fans and the atmosphere in Dortmund and they would like to see the Westfalenstadion to be the fortress it used to be.

During the conversation one could get the impression that there is a problem in the hierarchy of the squad. Captain Christoph Metzelder is injured since last spring and players such as Sebastian Kehl lack experience and acceptance, although he is quite dedicated on and off the field. The structures within the squad seem to be not really strong. One reason for this might be that there is no real leader as in Munich Bremen or Stuttgart.
In all one can say that Dortmund needs more players with characters that are similar to Kehl’s, Metze’s or Weiderfeller’s. For those players talking to the fans is important and they do not let us look like idiots who just have to pay for their tickets and then need to shut up. Hopefully the BVB will be able to keep these characters.
But we, the fans, have a duty as well. Everybody who was at the meeting got an impression of how the reactions in the stadium can burden the players, so we should avoid booing and blaming single players, for the good of the team, the club and the fans.

Geschrieben von Arne