Champions League 15th AUGUST 2017: Liverpool struggled a little against the South-western German Bundesliga club "Turn und-Sportgemeinschaft 1899" more likely known as TSG1899-Hoffenheim E.V. for short. The Bundesliga club plays at the Wirsol Rhein-Neckar Arena which holds just over 30,100 crowd. As it happens a stunning free kick by debutant right back Trent Alexander-Arnold helped them out! The German side had not lost at home all through last season, so a good result for the "Pool".
The club formed in August 1899 as a gymnastics' club, with 20 young men who met in two pubs,the "Zum Engel" (at the angel) and the "Zum Rossee" (at the sea??). As the winter kicked in (so to speak) the lads chose to run around a bit more outside and hence the introduction of a football! The Fusballverein formed in 1921 and by 1945 the gym club, Turnverein Hoffenheim merged with the footballers. In the 1990s the club was in the 8th division, playing as an amateur.
Hoffenheim is described as a "village" in Baden Wurttemberg (state capital is Stuttgart) and hosted a club in the 5th Division of the German league in 2000. With an investment from financial wizard and software entrepreneur, Dietmat Hopp, the club has risen through the German ranks to the Bundesliga by 2008. In 2016-17 they came 4th in the division and thereby qualify to play against Liverpool.
http://www.achtzehn99.de/tsg-en-us/history/
Following an injury strewn career with Munchen and Augsburg, TSG's manager Julian Nagelsmann, took charge of TSG after reading a Business degree and then a Sports' Science degree at university. He has been described as a "Mini Mourinho" and at 28 years old he is the youngest manager in the Bundesliga. His career record at that level is Played 50 Won 24 and Drawn 16. He was German Manager of the Year in 2017.
August 1957 was the month that a British Football League player ,William John Charles left home to play for Juventus for a fee of £65,000. This was an amount twice the previous record spent by Real Madrid on John Fox Watson of Fulham, one of the few early international transactions from an British league club and of course Charles opened the flood gates, with Jimmy Greaves, Gerry Hitchin, Dennis Law and others heading south (for a while).
Watson was a Scot who had played local football as a youngster and then signed for Bury FC pre-war. He lost a few years being called up and then he joined Fulham, went to Real Madrid briefly, came back to Crystal Palace and ended up at Canterbury City (Kent!).
I have given John Charles quite a bit of space in a previous blog, which you should read. He was an outstanding player and gentleman. The Gentle Giant.
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/with-il-gigante-buono-wales-might-have.html
Taken from his local side Gendros in Wales, he trialled at Leeds and was signed on in September 1948 by Major Frank Buckley and making his debut in front of a small appreciative crowd against Queen of the South in a friendly.
The result was 0-0 which does not sound too exciting, but Charles was still a teenager and he snuffed out Billy Houliston, a Scottish international who, 10 days earlier, had run England riot at Wembley in front of over 98,000, helping the Scots to a 3-1 victory.
Houliston played 120 games after the war, in the Scottish league and scored 60 goals. His robust style of play unsettled the England defenders and he scored 5 goals in 7 appearances for his country. He did not upset JC in the friendly, however.
The remarkable link is that Charles was scouted and then joined Leeds Utd in 1948 managed by the POMO (KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?) man, Major Franklin Charles Buckley. Buckley managed clubs from 1919 including Norwich, Blackpool, Wolves, Hull, Leeds and finally Walsall through till 1955.
The Major was responsible for the development of the Position Of Maximum Possibility, a style of play adopted by Graham Taylor, John Beck and David Bassett and others. Basically Long Ball!
John Charles, between 1948 and 1974, played 715 matches scoring 370 goals, remembering that he could play anywhere, he often found himself at centre half, whihc makes that tally all the more impressive. His career took him from Juve to Leeds again, briefly, Roma, Cardiff City, Hereford Utd as player-manager and then Merthyr Town and finally Hamilton Steelers in Canada. He died in February 2004 aged 72.
JC represented Wales 38 times scoring 15 times and was never cautioned or sent off!!
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