Hamburg's proud record of never being relegated from the Bundesliga came to an end as they had to finally pay the price for repeated flirtation with relegation in the last few seasons.
Despite just about managing to keep Hamburg clear of the bottom three last season, Markus Gisdol held on to his position though he was unable to strengthen the squad in the summer. While Hamburg did suffer a shock exit in the first round of the DFB Cup, they did begin the league campaign on a positive note by winning their first two games, but quickly hit a rough patch of form, collecting a single point from their next eight games.
Things did not improve as the season went on with Hamburg spending large portions of the campaign in the bottom three and the club brought in Bernd Hollerbach to replace Gisdol, but the move did not work out as Hamburg continued to find it difficult to pick up points.
It was not until Hollerbach was himself sacked and Christian Titz took over initially on an interim basis, that Hamburg's form improved but despite the club losing just twice in their final seven games, and picking up 13 points, it proved to be too little too late as Hamburg finished two points behind Wolfsburg who occupied the relegation playoffs spot.
There were very few positives for Hamburg in another disappointing campaign, and things were not helped by a lengthy injury spell for Nicolai Muller who made just two appearances, while Lewis Holtby, Aaron Hunt and Filip Kostic also struggled for consistency throughout the campaign, though Douglas Santos did enjoy another solid season, and the full-back could be one of the first names out of the club as Hamburg look to recalibrate their squad to the realities of 2. Bundesliga.
