November 2 – It began because of Borussia Monchengladbach’s long name, became a bit of a joke but has been fully embraced by the German team and taken on a life of its own.
A Twitter post showing a signage outside a pub in downtown Glasgow went viral after the Tiles Bar seemingly gave up attempting to spell “Monchengladbach” – instead opting for “A German Team” as opposition for Celtic in the Champions League last month.
Gladbach saw the funny side, changing their own English account’s Twitter handle to “A German Team” and using it on their team sheet on social media.
Not only that. Monchengladbach fans were so desperate to get hold of merchandise referring to their club as ‘A German Team’ that 2,000 scarves sporting the words sold out within two days.
The club’s head of corporate communications, Markus Aretz, says the scarves were in such demand Gladbach ordered another 2,000 to sell before Tuesday’s return group game that ended 1-1.
“It went big and was a big laugh on that day,” Aretz told the BBC. “We know it is a difficult name and not a club like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Manchester United that’s well known around the world, although we had a big history in the 1970s. It is hard to pronounce our name. We don’t get offended. Everybody thought it was a good joke.”
The bar in question also bought into the fun, promoting Tuesday’s return game as: “A German Team V A Glasgow Team”.
Assistant manager of Tiles Bar, Brian Pickering, said: “It’s been crazy. It just exploded. It snowballed so quickly. A lot of the local newspapers seemed to pick it up, then it got on to the TV stations, Match of the Day and CNN. It’s just incredible.”
“The team took it in great spirit.”
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