St. Pauli: Skull and Crossbones

Fantastic to see you win the league, g'wan Sabrina!
We are going up say we are going up
CAMPIONES, CAMPIONES, OLE OLE OLE
Ohhhhh Sabrina Schwaaaaarrtz, ohhhh Sabrina Schwaaaarrtz
The woman took us up, the woman took us uuuuup, f*ck you Koln, the woman took us up!

Enough?

Despite St. Pauli's narrow 0-1 loss to Bielefeld to close the season, Union Berlin also didn't get the result they wanted against 1860 Munchen, and that means St. Pauli have won the 2.Bundesliga! It's almost like a fairytale story, manager Sabrina Schwartz comes out of nowhere, is controversially named manager to St. Pauli, goes through a rough patch early, but tightens things up dramatically after winter break, with wins coming fast and furious. She is the first female manager to win a league title and a promotion, and to do it in the same season! That's a feat for even male managers! Of course, there are a scant few female managers in the men's game, and definitely none as high up in the league system as Schwartz.

Schwartz was hard to talk to during the season, except if you're Pauker (who is probably still knocked out drooling), but I finally got to talk to her a bit after the final match. "Winning the 2.Bundesliga trophy and holding it in my arms was an amazing feeling. When you win promotion, or win a league, or both, or you just do something that takes a lot of hard work and become successful at it, it's a little natural to feel emotional about it. I'd like to thank all the fans, the board, anyone who believed in me and stuck by my side and St. Pauli's side and supported the team this year, I really didn't know how it was going to go. I always felt like promotion was possible but a lot of things can happen in football."

She was also asked about plans for life in the Bundesliga. "Well, I'm going to put the 11 million Euros we just won to good use. We're not going to spend big, because we don't have that kind of money, but if we can just survive next season in the Bundesliga, we'll have a foothold to bigger and better things. Next season is the most important, so many teams win promotion and get busted back down, I'm not interested in that."

I also got to talk to team president Stefan Orth, and asked him why Schwartz in the first place. "We are a club who is anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, we aim to include everyone in and around the game. I had read Soccernomics, and wondered why couldn't a female manager do things properly in the men's game. Schwartz was one of the smartest footballers at St. Pauli, male or female, and she quickly took to coaching, and you can see that with how well she's done this season. Plus, she's not going to take any crap from anybody, she'll intimidate you, and St. Pauli was definitely very intimidating this season."

Congrats on promotion

Great job on securing promotion, can't wait to see your transfers.

Congrats on promotion!

Congrats on promotion, even though a win on the last day would've given you a perfect finish to the season

Honors

2.Bundesliga Goalscorer of the Year: Simon Toddard (Union Berlin), 22 goals
2.Bundesliga Manager of the Year: Sabrina Schwartz (St. Pauli)
2.Bundesliga Team of the Year First Eleven: Philipp Tschauner and Bjarne Thoelke
Toulon Tournament Top Goalscorer: Michael Gregoritsch (playing for Austria)

Budget

The starting budget:
Wages: 375k E/week
Transfers: 3.4 million E

Some nice budget, comparing to what you had last year? Going for some free transfers? Congrats on the 2.Bundesliga Manager of the Year, you deserve it

Yeah, definitely going for free transfers/cheapies.

Very nice job on the title and promotion, and good luck in the Bundesliga next season. No doubt under your fine tactical genius you should be able to do enough

Matches

July 12, 2014
St. Pauli 3 - 2 Rubin Kazan

St. Pauli came back from two goals down thanks to Michael Gregoritsch to win the game.
Player of the Match: Michael Gregoritsch (St. Pauli)

July 19, 2014
Waasland-Beveren 2 - 6 St. Pauli

The only noteworthy thing from this match was that goalkeeper Dejan Stojanovic was sent off when he grabbed a loose ball inside the box, but his momentum took him just outside the box.
Player of the Match: Naim Sliti (St. Pauli)

(At this point, I know what I need to know and I leave my assistant to handle the rest of the friendlies.)

Transfers

In

Standard's pacey winger will be playing for us next season, he looks to be a dynamic force for us and will replace Fin Bartels.

This center back came from Tenerife for 800,000 Euros.

Winston Reid is a strong center back who has joined us for 2 million Euros. He will help out with the squad depth.

We really needed a left back, and this 525K deal bringing Fuentes to St. Pauli has brought us a left back.

Staying

Hoffenheim's Michael Gregoritsch will be joining St. Pauli permanently for 450,000 Euros, which was agreed to as a future fee under the loan contract he was on last season.

Veteran midfielder Fabian Boll, who returned from a serious injury to bring stability to St. Pauli, has been signed to a one year extension where he will hopefully see his career out with the team and provide some more memorable moments.

Out

I mean, really, who ISN'T getting cut?

- Philipp Tschauner is being sold to Dortmund for 1.8 million Euros. St. Pauli will be forever grateful for his performance last season, but we have better goalkeepers now and we needed the money.

Staff

A couple of great results and good work clearing out the deadwood.

Your wage budget without the deadwood should see you get more players, and better

Matches

August 3, 2014 - DFB-Pokal First Round
Balingen 0 - 3 St. Pauli

This was just a glorified friendly, and yet a demolishing. Balingen had barely any time on the ball at all, and did absolutely nothing with it. My only nit-pick is that St. Pauli were a bit profligate with their chances, but the new additions are still learning to play together.
Player of the Match: Michael Gregoritsch (St. Pauli)

August 9, 2014
Mainz 1 - 1 St. Pauli

Despite St. Pauli's illusions of grandeur, life in the Bundesliga is very tough. St. Pauli could only rescue a late draw against a team that had to fight off Union Berlin to stay in the Bundesliga, on a goal where Evan Chevalier headed the ball on to Sebastian MAier who was clear onto goal. St. Pauli struggled to keep possession, and had most of the fouls and cards against them.
Player of the Match: Koray Kacinoglu (St. Pauli)

August 16, 2014
St. Pauli 1 - 2 Bayern Munich

St. Pauli looked to have Bayern held tight early, but a quick double-salvo by Bastian Schweinsteiger and Robert Lewandowski opened things up for Bayern. Michael Gregoritsch's great goal pulled one back and brought St. Pauli in with a shout, but were unable to create a repeat effort.
Player of the Match: Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich)

August 23, 2014
Schalke 2 - 1 St. Pauli

Despite St. Pauli looking to challenge Schalke after equalizing in response to Schalke's early goal, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's header and Juan Fuentes's red card for a bad tackle took the wind out of St. Pauli's sails. Still, they fought hard, but didn't have enough juice.
Player of the Match: Alberto (St. Pauli)

August 31, 2014
St. Pauli 2 - 2 Leverkusen

When St. Pauli took the lead, Leverkusen would immediately strike back. Dejan Stojanovic had a great performance as he had to deal with many Leverkusen shots.
Player of the Match: Dejan Stojanovic (St. Pauli)

Bundesliga Table

The players have played hard, but are still raw and have played against better and more experienced opposition. I expect the team to come together more as they play together and start to win a few games here and there.

Great stuff mate, unlucky to lose against teams like Schalke and Bayern after fighting till the end.