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From the notes you provided, it can be seen that Union Berlin's process in the Bundesliga is not easy and every season they always improve themselves by finishing in a better position. This is all thanks to the hard work they have put in since they were promoted to the Bundesliga and the peak was last season when they won a place in the Champions League. But unfortunately this did not become a bigger motivation for Union Berlin and they have already fallen and it is very difficult to recover from the destruction this season. Union Berlin will not play Augsburg this week but their opponent is Gladbach and as I said above although this will be a quite difficult match but I hope Union Berlin can secure full points at home. It's not easy but they have to do it.
I think what they are mostly at odds with at the moment is how their whole situation is looking like. They have put in so much effort to build a great team from the ground up, to keep their salary structure intact to avoid any envy within the team and to foster cohesion. They succeeded in my opinion, Union Berlin was a great team and had a lot of sympathies not only from their own fans, but also from the more neutral audience.
But now disaster is looming and while they are trying to get out of doom loop in the Bundesliga, they are losing the other incentive in the Champions League, too. I can only imagine how much they enjoyed what they have been building for themselves for so many years. In a worst case scenario this will all abruptly come to an end with the relegation into the 2. Bundesliga...
You are totally right.
It's really sad to see them struggle that hard. I mean they made some good money with the champions league this season, much more they could have hoped for let's say 3 years ago.
Yet now they also calculated with this money in their season budget and since everything is crashing down hard at the moment I just hope money won't be an issue in the near future!
Thank god they have a loyal fanbase so they don't have to fear supporters not wanting to buy tickets.