A season that promised to be a historic one ended in disappointment for Paderborn as they were relegated straight back to 2.Bundesliga after finishing the season at the bottom of the league table. Having secured their first ever appearance in the top flight of German football, Paderborn had a dream start to life as a Bundesliga club. Though they were knocked out of the DFB Cup in the first round itself by Red Bull Leipzig, eight points from their opening four games saw Paderborn climb to the top of the league table. Back to back defeats to Bayern Munchen and Borussia Monchengladbach tempered the dream start somewhat but victories over Eintracht Frankfurt and Hertha Berlin had fans dreaming of a place in the top half of the league table. A disappointing defeat to Augsburg proved to be a major turning point of the season, with the defeat triggering a poor run of 10 games without a win. Paderborn's slide down the table continued despite a hard fought win over Hannover 96. Goals though were a major concern for coach Andre Breitenreiter with Paderborn failing to score even once in six games in March. By then relegation was looking a realistic prospect for Paderborn and, though a decent run of two wins and a draw in four games raised hopes that the team would manage to stay afloat, Paderborn ended the season on a disappointing note, losing the final three games with the defeat against Stuttgart confirming their relegation from the Bundesliga. It was always going to be a difficult season for Paderborn and Breitenreiter had taken the opportunity by ensuring that he signed a number of loan players, who had played a key role in their promotion to the Bundesliga, on a permanent basis. While there was speculation that Breitenreiter would be leaving the club after an underwhelming campaign, the Paderborn coach has decided to remain at the helm and will be looking to spearhead an immediate return back to the Bundesliga. There have been a couple of major departures though with Christian Strohdiek, Jens Wemmer and Alban Meha all leaving the club while Marvin Ducksch has returned back to Borussia Dortmund at the end of his loan. Paderborn have so far signed Daniel Fernandes from Osnabruck though there is enough quality in the team to mount a serious bid to regain promotion at the first attempt itself.
