Bundesliga "autumn champions" Bayer Leverkusen. Fans celebrate their 30-year stay in the top
German division. December 19, 2009.
Photo credit: Flash LEV on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.
Whisper it quietly but it is said that at this time of the year most English football hacks wish
they were Germans. Why? Because most German soccer journalists don't need to work over Christmas.
So while Alan Green reluctantly squeezes into a windswept commentary gantry on Boxing Day afternoon
and Henry Winter stays up until two in the morning on Christmas Night desperately trying to find
yet another tenuous angle for yet another tedious article supporting Michael Owen's increasingly
unlikely inclusion in England's World Cup squad, the likes ofUli Hesse-Lichtenburger are at home
with their families.
