
Hi kids,
A warm welcome back to the Lions Club. I've been one of you fair some two and a half years. Back then I was asked whether I wanted to be a sort of member of the Lions Club. I was the youngest player in the team at the time and a couple of people from Bayer 04 thought it would be a good match between me and the youngest Werkself fans.
They were right! They officially named me as patron and I've been to a couple of your events at Christmas parties and similar occasions. And I've seen how much fun you all have together. And not just with watching football. All the other things you do together would have given me great pleasure when I was your age. Just carry on, stick together and in you enjoy your time at Bayer. And, above all, cross your fingers for us to achieve our targets again this season.
At the end of the day that's the best thing there is. To be nervous, to hope and, finally, to celebrate with your club when they win. And you can also be sad if it doesn't work out. But not for long! Then you go again, looking forward to getting stuck into the next game.
According to the motto 'Strong Bayer – strong Lions'. I've just thought of that. Perhaps you can take it over for the future. With a motto like that then nothing can go wrong, can it?
So kids – to a good, strong as a lion rest of the season.
Yours Julian


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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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