Borussia Dortmund supporters stand by Jurgen Klopp and club despite recent struggles

Earlier this week, a social media gaffe by a professional soccer player grabbed the headlines. But while Mario Balotelli’s ill-advised ode to his computer-game namesake has now led to the FA getting involved amid claims and counter-claims of racism, another post by a less high-profile player slipped between the cracks.

Following Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend – a result which inexplicably left the 2013 Champions League finalists at rock bottom of the Bundesliga – Kevin Grosskreutz took to his Instagram page and delivered a heartfelt message to the club’s fans. The utility player bleeds black and gold, having spent his youth crammed into the Yellow Wall (the Westfalenstadion’s south stand) with so many others, cheering on his local side. It was fitting that it was he who took the responsibility to offer up a passionate plea to the club’s hardcore support.

It was a refreshing, rallying cry. He admitted the players were in a strange environment, having tasted so much success over the last four years. They had failed as a team, he said. But he asked for the Dortmund fans to be different to all the rest, to support instead of ridicule.

Later in the week, pictures emerged of the team’s Christmas party. Normally, a soccer club’s festive season get-together is an exclusive affair. Some swanky restaurant hosts the VIP clientele before it’s on to a pub, a club and then a hotel for some early-hours shenanigans.

Dortmund’s was a little different. They hosted 1,000 supporters at the stadium, spent over two hours signing autographs and posing for photos and then hopped behind the bar to pour some beers for the guests.

Everything about Dortmund has been pretty unique for a while now. Jurgen Klopp has stayed in charge despite the bitter defeat to Bayern Munich last year seemingly the perfect moment for him to seek out pastures new. Perhaps he wanted to try his luck at taking on Pep Guardiola and the new-look Bavarians. If that was the case, then he really should have quit in the summer when Bayern finished 19 points clear of Dortmund, tying up the league title in March.

Klopp has seen simple economics tear down the walls of the impressive palace he built. There was an inevitablity to how Dortmund’s unexpected rise to the top would eventually fade away. The cheap players that were signed, developed and subsequently blossomed attracted the attention of the behemoths. The biggest predator of all, Bayern, stalked its prey before pouncing, devouring and savouring. Perhaps most galling of all for  fans was seeing Mattias Sammer, the impeccable former German star who won two league titles with the club in the mid-90s, captained them to the Champions League crown in 1997 and managed them to a Bundesliga triumph in 2002, arrive at Bayern in 2012 as sporting director.

Yet, through it all - the frustration, the anger, the disappointment, Klopp has remained. And the supporters refuse to call for his head. Because, unlike so many fan groups, history plays hard on their minds. Before Klopp, there was a valley of emptiness. There was a club that came within hours of going out of business. There was a club that had been loaned $2.8 million by Bayern – their most bitter of rivals – so they could pay staff for a couple of months.

It took the club falling to its knees for a newer, better business model to take shape. Hans-Joachim Watzke arrived as CEO in early 2005 and went about reforming the approach. The previous three years had seen lavish investment and zero return. Players’ wages were out of control. So, the deadwood was cut free. Youngsters cropped up in the first team like Nuri Sahin, who made his debut at 16. They went bargain shopping, scouring the discount stores for good value. Similarly, Watzke knew when to cash in his chips and sold both Tomas Rosicky and David Odonkor, two impressive young players, for a combined fee of close to $24 million. Dortmund were using their head again though Klopp’s arrival as manager in 2008 dovetailed seamlessly with the club’s newly-established work practices.

Under Klopp’s watch, the Dortmund fans have witnessed an exciting crop of players dramatically pull the club back from the brink and push them to eventual success. The league win in 2011 seemed too good to be true. Then, the following year, they won it again and embarrassed Bayern in the Cup final (to claim their first ever “double”), indirectly affecting their rivals’ preparations for the following week’s Champions League final against Chelsea (which they promptly lost). Things genuinely couldn’t get better.

But through it all, there’s been the connection with the terraces. The best thing Klopp instilled in his Dortmund players was an energy, a work ethic, a spirit and an overpowering sense of unity. There was also the humility. After the league win in 2012, the team celebrated in a local restaurant with then-captain Sebastian Kehl pulling pints of beer for fans that showed up.

Dortmund is an honest club and the way it’s currently dealing with failure should be applauded. The manager didn’t whore himself when his stock was at its highest and neither has he shirked the responsibility of his side being mired in a relegation battle. He’s been noble enough to take ownership, roll his sleeves up and continue to work hard.

At an executive level, there’s clearly an appreciation of Klopp and what he’s achieved. When other teams would gladly have pulled the trigger by now, they’re bravely allowing Klopp the time to right the wrongs instead.

The fans continue to remember how far the club has come in such a short and dramatic period of time and that Klopp dared them to dream again.

The club deserves better than another riches-to-rags storyline. But it’s up to the players to change the narrative.

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Eoin O'Callaghan is a soccer journalist and broadcaster. Best known in North America for his TV work with Fox Soccer, he has also reported extensively for BBC, RTE and Setanta Sports. He writes about soccer for The Irish Examiner newspaper, beIN Sports, One World Sports and TheScore.ie. Follow him @EoinOCallaghan