This season has most certainly not gone accoring to plan for Hamburger SV. Hopes of a mid-table to European qualification spot finish in the Bundesliga has been dashed by a  season to forget. Die Rothosen, or Red Shorts, as they are known, are staring down the barrel of the previously unthinkable; relegation from the Bundesliga. Let's not forget, this is a club that has been an ever present in the top division of German football for the entire span of the Bundesliga era, hence the monniker of Der Dinosaurier, The Dinosaurs, which just serves to highlight the magnitude of their achievement.

However, the dream could be over soon. Hamburg are languishing in sixteenth spot currently, which might not seem so bad at first glance considering that it is a play-off position. But the hazard of having to take on a 2.Bundesliga side desperate for the added glamour and financial gain of making it all the way to the top of the German football hierarchy makes this no easy task. What makes the entire situation even tougher is the fact that Nürnberg and Eintracht Braunschweig are only one and two points, respectively, behind Die Rothosen, placing them perilously close to an automatic relegation spot. Combined with the fact that VfB Stuttgart have opened up a four point buffer over Hamburg, the chance of the unthinkable happening looms large.

Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V was officially founded in 1919, and has been one of Germany's most illustrious clubs, if not the most illustrious, in history. Since the inception of the modern Bundesliga as we know it in 1963, Hamburg have been there every step of the way and has become synonymous with the competition. Among the various accolades that have been picked up over the years is winning the German top-flight title six times and the DFB-Pokal three times. The golden era for Die Rothosen doubtlessly was in the mid-1970's to the mid-1980's in which the club not only won numerous domestic titles, but also 1976-1977 European Cup Winners' Cup, and the crowning glory of the 1982-1983 European Cup. However, the club has failed to replicate their previous sucesses in the past three decades, with their last major accolade being the 1986-1987 DFB-Pokal.

However, the club still has one of the largest fanbases in not only German football, but internationally as well, boasting over 70,000 members in all it's departments, while being rated by Forbes as one of the twenty largest football clubs in the world. One only has to look at some of the legends to have graced the pitch for Hamburg to know why this organisation has such a cult-like status with their adoring fans even through times of adversity. Uwe Seeler, Kevin Keegan and legendary midfielder Felix Magath are but a few of the all time legends to have graced the white, red and blue colors of Hamburger SV.

However, the modern era has not been kind to Der Dinosaurier, with the club nearly driven to extinction due to financial difficulties in the early 1990's, with only the sale of then-star Thomas Doll to Lazio enabling the club to survive. On the pitch, the club has been in a constant decline, only intermittently showing glimpses of the true giant of German football awakening. This has lead us to the present time, where the club's decline is at it's peak and the legend of Der Dinosaurier could be ended.

2013-2014 can best be described with one word - Shambles. Thorsten Fink, who had been at the helm of Die Rothesen since 2011 was sacked due to the unsatisfactory level of performances which had already plunged the club into trouble with the season barely having started. His successor, former Netherlands manager Bert Van Marwijk, was unable to galvanise the squad into any sort of turnaround, arguably even performing worse than his predecessor. Enter the highly respected Mirko Slomka, who now has the unenviable job of trying to keep the club up under difficult circumstances, as I have indicated before. The general concensus is that if there is anyone who can keep Die Rothosen up, it's the man currently in charge. However, with three games remaining in the Bundesliga season against FC Augsburg, Bayern Munich and Mainz, it is guaranteed to be no walk in the park.

Amidst all the doom and gloom of this season, there are a few silver linings to this dark cloud. Youngster Hakan Calhanoglu has been a revelation with his playmaking, eye for a pass and deadly set-piece prowess. Even more encouraging is that he recently signed a long-term contract extension with Hamburg, which will keep him in at the club until 2018, or, alternatively, drive his market value up to the benefit of Hamburg if offers from other clubs emerge. On-loan striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga has also impressed immensely, and even though he is still contracted to Hertha Berlin, there is a chance that Die Rothosen could acquire his services permanently.

There is no doubt that a full-scale rebuild is needed to set Hamburg on their way to returning to the upper echelon of German football, and there has been suggestions that relegation could be the best possible thing that could happen to the club in order to rebuild. However, the Bundesliga might not be better off without Der Dinosaurier. The legend of Hamburg's unparalleled and constant presence reaches way beyond the confines of the German fan, with me personally having seen the effect of this achievement on neutral observers of the Bundesliga. They strive to be a part of something great, something historic, something to be proud of; Hamburger SV.

Whatever happens now from here on in, it is obvious that the journey is only beginning for Die Rothosen.

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About the author
Marco Conradie
Fußball, Football or Soccer, call it what you want, I love it. A thinker of thoughts and writer of words, I dabble in the obscure recesses of German football history at times simply out of pure fascination. The Bundesliga is my passion, and there is nothing better than the beautiful game.