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Crazy story out of Germany where Schalke, winless in 26 games, are closing in on the Bundesliga record for a winless run, but even crazier, the club that currently holds the embarrassing record have announced they don't want Schalke to take the record off them. THREAD:
You see the club currently holding the record is now 5th tier Tasmania Berlin, who in the 65/66 Bundesliga season (their 1st and only ever in the top flight) went through the season from hell finishing bottom with 8 points (out of a possible 68) & going 31 matches without a win
Their season was an iconic one for all the wrong reasons, where despite actually winning their 1st game, "Tas" created a host of records yet to be broken to this day, including:
Most goals conceded: (100)
Least goals scored: (15)
Most losses (28)
Most losses in a row: (10)
Most goals conceded: (100)
Least goals scored: (15)
Most losses (28)
Most losses in a row: (10)
And to this day, Tasmania are are associated with these failures that when Arminia Bielefeld tied the record of most losses in a row in the 99/00 Bundesliga season, the Arminia fans started ironically chanting "Tasmania Bielefeld!"
The stories from Tasmania's horror season are the stuff of legend from captain Horst Szymaniak (who won the European cup w Inter) regularly turning up drunk for evening training sessions to the wreath the fans laid on the pitch when the team conceded the dreaded 100th goal.
Then there's the off pitch record they broke (lowest attendance) when only 827 fans turned up for their snowy home match against Borussia Mönchengladbach. To make it worse, as they played out of Hertha Berlin's 81,000 Olympiastadion the crowd that day was just over 1% capacity…
In fact Tasmania's time in the top flight was so bad, a running joke became popular midway through the season when fans would ask "when was the last time Tasmania won a game?" and others would respond: “ask your grandfather”
And so the embarrassing possibility of taking this record off Tasmania has caused chaos at Schalke, a side usually in Europe & who were Bundesliga runners up in 2018. This season already has seen threats from Ultras, coaches fired & presidents stood down https://twitter.com/matt_4d/status/1317932697055121411
But it's not just Schalke's fans and administrators affected by the looming record with striker Mark Uth recently admitting "I could just go in the dressing room and cry" https://bulinews.com/news/6706/mark-uth-after-latest-schalke-loss-i-could-just-in-the-dressing-room-and-cry
All of which has led to this impactful statement from the club this week. https://schalke04.de/en/team/fans-members-fc-schalke-04/?fbclid=IwAR3ZTUvDpB1y5eTtPeKB9oNHsotWc2tbCmkTjmh_h1lXMWSKT5eLdma9kd4
But, if you think that those at Tasmania Berlin are thrilled with the possibility of finally having the Bundesliga’s most infamous record being taken off their hands after more than half a century of waiting... you’re sadly mistaken
You see, as the @blzzrd so well put it "Every German with a solid interest in football knows the occupants of two spots: the first are record champions Bayern Munich, the last are Tasmania 1900 Berlin." https://www.theblizzard.co.uk/article/immortality-awfulness
And because of this, Tasmania Berlin Club executive Almir Numic has come out and told the media "I don't want Schalke to break the record, it's been ours for decades & this record helps us. When we sit down with sponsors we don't have to explain who Tas are"
In fact, according to Numic, their legend even goes beyond Germany, "That record is part of our history, our identity. We sell merchandise all over the world because of it. Only recently, we sent a package to Norway."
