Slomka City

They call it Slomka City. The new, established home of a man who has slaved and toiled and waved his magic wand, all to pull Hanover 96 into what might yet become the most glorious era of their history.

Hyperbole? Exaggeration? Not really. Humble Hanover have long been out of their depth as far as the traditionalists are concerned, but they are still treading water and show no signs of tiring.

On Thursday evening, they beat Copenhagen 2-1 in their Europa League group match, putting them second in Group B.

Coach Mirko Slomka's success with the Reds has been in creating an almost watertight tactical set up, while also cultivating a team and club ethic based around positivity, self belief and maturity. He and his coaching staff are leading a revolution, not only within their own club, but in the entire league itself. If, as Director of Sport Jörg Schmadtke suggests, the club is punching above their weight in terms of finance and football, its capacity to continue to do so for years to come should not be doubted.

The Slomka Philosophy

Prior to his team's defeat in Hanover last month, Bayern Munich Coach Jupp Heynckes predicted an "unpleasant game," alluding to the "physicality" of Slomka's side. This condemnation of Hanover's game as being rooted in the defensive and the physical is somewhat lazy.

Hanover would be nothing without the unmatched stamina of its midfield, the flexibility and quality of its front three, and the frightening speed with which the team can turn defense into attack. Unlike old bunkering defensive tactics, the "Fast Football" that Slomka employs retains attack as the priority, with defense the unshakeable foundation upon which it is built. In this respect, it is ironically not all that dissimilar to Heynckes' own philosophy seen at Bayer Leverkusen, and now at FC Bayern.

It is not simply this tactical canniness that Slomka has cultivated, however. While other teams that have risen from below, such as Mainz or Bochum, have always looked slightly uncomfortable, even a little bewildered to have reached such heights, Hanover's ethic of positivity and self-assurance seems to render them fearless.

That they missed out on third place and a Champions League slot last season was more down to Bayern's sudden surge under Andries Jonker than a bout of the chokes in Lower Saxony. The club's progress is relentless, and its squad depth is prodigious.

Some reckoned with an early-season struggle when last season's goal machine Didier Ya Konan went down injured in the pre-season, but Slomka had another one waiting in the wings in Mo Abdellaoue. There is no looking back, no hand-wringing, only, as Hanover's captain Steve Cherundolo puts it, a kind of relentless continuity.

"After losses, after wins, we continue to do the same work, and that's very easy for a player to adapt to and to progress with," the US international, who has played more than 350 matches for the club in his 12 seasons in Hanover, told Deutsche Welle.

"There are a lot of ups and downs. There's a lot of pressure from the outside - from the media, from the fans - and the more continuity you can have on the inside, with the management and the coaching staff, the better off the players are."

Europe: the first chapter

That quiet confidence has given way to a sense of euphoria, among the fans at least, now that they've seen their beloved Reds make such a credible start to their European tour. Rejecting the ho-hum approach that many mid-table English teams take to the Europa League, Hanover are hell-bent on enjoying the opportunity to challenge for Europe's second biggest trophy.

For Johannes Seidel, who leads a Hanover fan club when he's not working at the Institute of Sport Science at the University of Hanover, this is hardly surprising: "In Hanover, the Europa League is far more important than it is in England or Italy - it's something special for the entire region."

It is not, however, simply a one-off event to be enjoyed and then consigned to the scrapbook. The seriousness with which Hanover are taking the Europa League is as calculating and progressive as their team ethic. The club views this season as an opening scene for what they are determined will be a long period of exposure on the European stage. If nothing else, a few years in Europe would be indispensably lucrative for a club in Hanover's financial situation.

Purse-string issues

While Hanover's current momentum shows no immediate signs of slowing, it will not last forever. The club's current low-budget philosophy is, by Jörg Schmadtke's own admission, not able to sustain Hanover at the top of the table for years to come. Even this season, there are more of the usual teams challenging for the Champions League spots than there were last year. And in comparison to the corporate-backed Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg, and the aristocratic FC Bayern, Hanover 96 simply lack the financial muscle to assert themselves long term.

There is some apprehension, moreover, with regard to the impending implementation of UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules. Designed to stop excessive spending, there is some fear that these rules will simply set in concrete the financial gap between wealthy clubs like Bayern and the less well-off likes of Hanover.

Step forward Martin Kind, the man with the economic plan. Kind's appeals for a change to the 50+1 rule, which restricts the freedom of wealthy individual shareholders, have not endeared him to Bundesliga purists, but his gamble seems to have paid off. A court ruling in August confirmed that after twenty years of involvement, an investor can effectively take over a club. In Kind's case, this means 2017. Should Hanover support themselves until that point, the financial freedom they would then gain could plausibly render them Champions League regulars.

A new dawn

For now, however, Hanover must concentrate on maintaining the momentum they have managed to create in the last season and a half. Slomka, the long-nosed Lenin at the heart of the revolution, is not a man to get ahead of himself, and it seems that feet will remain firmly on the ground in Lower Saxony.

The veteran Cherundolo, though, says the current group is onto something special.

"The personalities fit so well together. Guys are doing a lot together off the field and out of the locker room. Not only do we compliment each other as soccer players on the field, but also off the field as well. I think in your career you come around a group of guys like that maybe once or twice, and one of those times is happening now."

And few would begrudge the guys at Hanover 96 an elongated spell of success at the top of the Bundesliga. After the tragedy of Robert Enke's suicide threatened to plunge the club into darkness only two years ago, it is refreshing to see this club march confidently once more into the light.

Author: Kit Holden
Editor: Matt Hermann