[spireitematt]

Thanks for that, Matt; interesting stuff. I did read somewhere that RB Leipzig were pretty much universally despised in Germany and that the normal model over there was for fan rather than private ownership, as it is in a few other countries. (I`m all for that, by the way; should bring it in over here.) I didn`t know the other stuff, though.

The only St Pauli I`ve heard of over there is the red-light district of Hamburg – allegedly. I only know this, of course, because I erm, erm, read it somewhere. Never been there, obviously, and at my age there`d be no bloody point in going there now. Is it the same St Pauli (he asks out of nothing more than academic interest)? Do they play in red?

My interest in European football only extends as far as Spain, really.  I spent some time in Salamanca as a student many, many moons ago and I used to watch the local team UDS Salamanca whilst I was there. Sadly, they went into liquidation – about 10 years ago, I think -  but a couple of new clubs were formed out of their ashes, as it were, a few years later; Unionistas de Salamanca and Salamanca UDS. They`ve both been climbing steadily up the leagues the last few years and are in the third tier now Unionistas could be going up again at the end of the season as things stand but UDS could be going the other way.

We seem to have digressed somewhat from Dancing`s original thread title of “Can we do it?” but what the hell. Threads are supposed to wander; this one certainly has.

That is correct SGB they are despised by fans of other clubs. In Germany the model for clubs is a mixture of fan owned and private ownership which is where the 50+1 rules comes in. It's very democratic, if the fans are members then they can vote on ticket prices, kits etc. Teams in Spain have Presidents which are voted in by the members.

It is indeed the same St Pauli, there rivals are Hamburg and the Derby is called the Hamburger. I think they play in brown and white.

Since I discovered that Youtube live stream 2nd division Spanish football at weekend, I will watch maybe 2 games every week.

As for the original question of ''Can we do it?'' Mathematically yes we can. We need to keep winning games and keep the run of form going. If you asked that question at the beginning of the season then I would have said no because early on in the season we looked destined for relegation and going to National League North. Since James Rowe has come in and changed the teams fortunes around he's made the fans feel optimistic again and made football enjoyable and long may it continue.

Looking at Sutton's fixtures they will hit a bad run of form at some point. Torquay, Eastleigh and you could include Notts County in the list as well they've seemed to have hit a run of bad form, Torquay have lost 3 out of their last 5 games. All we have to do is keep winning and keep a run of form going.