Leeds United know all too well that history and stature matters little in the face of dreadful mismanagement.
From Premier League stalwarts, Champions League challengers and top-flight title winners as recently as 1992 to the depths of the third-tier, few clubs have fallen further and more dramatically than the Yorkshire giants.
At least, with Leeds United now top of the Championship and well-placed to secure a return to the big time, things are looking up at Elland Road.
The same cannot be said, however, of another fallen giant. Statistically the fourth-most popular club in Germany – behind Hamburg, Borussia Dortmund and, of course, Bayern Munich – Stuttgart may be about to go through their own ‘Leeds in League One’ moment.
Relegation to the third tier – for the first time in their proud 120 year history – is a very real possibility. Schalke have won only five of their 17 Bundesliga.2 matches.
Maybe Schalke could call upon the services of a former Leeds frontman to help salvage what is turning into another miserable season on the blue banks of the Ruhr.
Former Leeds United striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga now playing in Germany’s fourth tier
Pierre-Michel Lassoga, back in Germany after spells in Qatar and West Yorkshire, is, technically speaking, a Schalke player. We say technically because the 33-year-old actually represents Schalke’s reserve team in the Regionalliga West.
Or, to put it another way, Germany’s fourth tier.
Lassoga, now 33, is not exactly setting the world alight against the likes of Gutersloh and SV Rodinghausen either. He’s scored only five times in 17 Schalke II matches since arriving from Al-Khor in 2023.
Not a single one has come in the current campaign either, with coach Jakob Fimpel bemoaning an injury which left the one-time Bayer Leverkusen man on the sidelines for the first four months of the campaign.
“As soon as Pierre-Michel can play, it’s a different game for us,” Fimpel says, via Kicker. “We really missed his qualities as a target player in the first half of the season.
“When he’s on the pitch, the boys around him develop and play much more freely.”
Leeds face attacking injury issues as Lasogga makes Schalke comeback
Lassoga’s experience and physicality has certainly been a benefit to Schalke’s next generation, even if goals have been in relatively short supply.
It has been nearly seven years now since Lassoga joined Leeds on a loan deal from Hamburg at the beginning of the Thomas Christiansen era.
Back at Elland Road, current boss Daniel Farke finds himself battling with attacking injuries of his own. Ahead of the FA Cup third round clash with Harrogate Town on Saturday, Farke confirmed that Joel Piroe will be unavailable with a muscle problem while Patrick Bamford’s latest absence will be longer than first feared.
“Joel Piroe is struggling with a few muscular injuries so we won’t risk him,” Farke said during his press conference. “I have two concerns, one is Bamford’s injury and the ongoing knee injuries with Max Wober. He is struggling with his knees.
“[Bamford’s] is bit more of a serious. He suffered a hamstring injury at Blackburn [on New Years’ Day]. He will be out for four weeks, perhaps quicker depending on rehab.
“There is a chance he is back at the end of January.”
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