Having been a mid table side last year, Nürnberg would have expected a relatively similar season this time around having strengthened their side with a couple of good signings in the form of Daniel Ginczek and Josip Drmic but, from the start of the campaign, things did not work out well for the Frankonian side. An embarrassing cup exit to Sandhausen was followed by an awful opening round of matches in which Michael Weisinger's side failed to win a game in the first ten rounds and he was replaced by Dutchman Gertjan Verbeek. A change in fortunes under the new manager was slow and Nürnberg were fortunate that a number of other sides were also struggling when the league got to the winter break. After the break their form did finally begin to change and a commanding win against Hoffenheim in the 18th round began a series of four wins in five matches which pushed the club up to twelfth place in the league, their highest position of the campaign. However, on the next match day they travelled to Dortmund and were duly thrashed, which began a series of eleven defeats in their final twelve matches, the only exception being a home win against Stuttgart in round 27 and on the final day of the season a 1 – 4 defeat against Schalke saw them relegated. Ultimately, a combination of factors led to Nürnberg's inevitable demise. Their squad was ravaged by injuries with a number of regular players missing for most of the second half of the season and the quality of those who replaced them was poor. Problems in the defence were also common and constant suspensions and injury worries ravaged their back line meaning a consistent back four was near impossible. However they also did not help themselves with three separate managers taking command during the season, none of which given sufficient time to prove themselves. The sacking of Verbeek after round 31 gave Roger Prinzen the chance to be a hero and save the club but in the last three matches they looked shocking and were never close to even taking a draw. In this horror of a season there are few positives but the signing of Drmic from Zürich last summer was a fantastic piece of business and he finished third in the goalscoring charts so he could well be picked up by a Bundesliga team over the summer. If the club can keep some of their better players they stand a chance of direct promotion back to the top table of German football but first they have to find the right man to lead them.
