Football Season Guide

HSV endured another season of underachievement last year as a good start was wasted among their usual bickering and infighting. The manager appointed to finally lead them towards glory was sacked mid-way through and the board have adopted a new direction by appointing former assistant Michael Oenning to take over. Whether he succeeds or not remains to be seen but he certainly will not do any worse than a string of big name failures and, as a bonus, will come much cheaper. Cost cutting has seen several established players leave over summer including Mathijsen, Van Nistelrooy and Ze Roberto but those who are concerned about the state of the squad need only be reminded it was these experienced players who have fallen continually short of meeting the targets set. These targets, for such a potentially big club, are not urealistic but signings like Skjelbred and a host of players from the Chelsea youth system are unlikely to meet them this season at least. Instead slow progress is now the order of the day and if HSV can make a decent throw at reaching fifth while playing decent football, most in the Hansastadt will be content for a few months.