Ruhr derby provides chance for Schalke to vent frustrations

Schalke fans have become used to not getting their hopes up.

For four glorious minutes in May 2001, it seemed as if their side was going to win its first Bundesliga title. Schalke had already won its game 5-3 and was waiting for Bayern Munich to lose at Hamburger SV - celebrations were already underway in Gelsenkirchen - before Patrik Andersson hammered in Bayern’s equalizer with the last kick of the season to snatch the title by a point.

Borussia Dortmund derailed Schalke’s title hopes in 2007 when its 2-0 win in the Ruhr derby allowed Stuttgart go ahead on the penultimate weekend. Stuttgart went on to win the title by two points.

Dortmund - tomorrow’s opponent - has won two Bundesliga titles since then. Schalke still has none after finishing runner-up again to Bayern in 2010.

Nobody imagined that was going to change this season but more was expected from a fresh start after Schalke presented a new sporting director, a new coach, and embarked on an offseason spending spree last year.

Christian Heidel, who had done excellent work at Mainz, took over from Horst Heldt as sporting director. Markus Weinzierl arrived after four successful years at Augsburg to take over as coach, and players like Nabil Bentaleb, Breel Embolo, Yevhen Konoplyanka and Benjamin Stambouli arrived to shore up the squad.

Results didn’t follow, however. Schalke started with five losses and struggled to make up lost ground. More signings followed in the winter - Daniel Caligiuri, Holger Badstuber and Guido Burgstaller all arrived - but results were again inconsistent despite progress in the Europa League.

Of nine league games since the winter break, Schalke has won four, lost two and drawn three.

Ahead of Dortmund’s visit for the 172nd Ruhr derby, Schalke is ninth, only six points above the relegation zone. The club has lost more league games than it has won.

While Weinzierl has faced criticism for not getting his side to gel, he hasn’t been helped by injuries - Spanish defender Coke injured a cruciate ligament one day after joining from Rayo Vallecano and Embolo was ruled out for the season with an ankle injury last October.

Mindful of Weinzierl’s good record at Augsburg, Schalke fans have been quicker to blame the players for not doing enough, while club chairman Clemens Toennies remains an unpopular figure after years of underachievement despite massive investment with the help of Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Schalke, founded in 1904, is one of Germany’s most popular clubs after Bayern and Dortmund with more than 140,000 members.

But the club’s glory period is a long way back with its seven German championships all coming in the 1930s and 40s with the exception of the 1958 title - all before the Bundesliga was founded in 1963.

Schalke’s recent frustrations have been acerbated by Dortmund’s relative success in establishing itself as Bayern’s greatest challenger. Schalke has only finished ahead of its local rival once, in 2015, since its runner-up spot in 2010.

Dortmund’s visit tomorrow provides another opportunity to vent those frustrations. But Schalke fans won’t get their hopes up too much.