Interesting when we speak of clubs not being big anymore. I was in Hamburg on Saturday to watch the once powerful HSV beat Ausburg 1-0.Very physical match,two sendings off (could have been more), terrific atmosphere but only 45,000 watching which was one of their lowest for a league match in many years.Still a very famous club but now small fry in the power game.They also have a fanbase reaching far.Most probably already know of their link with Rangers _ and if you are out on the Reeperbahn the night before they play you will also realise this extends on to Chelsea through their link with Rangers.BUT they also have a long standing Swedish fanbase going back to the 70's.And if you look at the map, although Hamburg is up towards Denmark it's quite a bit away from Sweden,almost as far as we are.
just think football moves on Hamburg were a famous name back in the day and quite popular too I think in Germany every Club is overshadowed by Bayern Munich, television, papers, media and customer base much in the same way Manchester United dominates this Country.
I would put the likes of Hamburg in someways in the same bracket as also once great footballing names which have sadly been left behind, Clubs like Ajax, Liverpool and Benfica when the landscape changed so did those clubs fortunes sadly...
