Just when things were looking up on the banks of the Rhine, Schalke 04 had to shoot themselves in the foot.

The Gelsenkirchen-based club’s 2 – 0 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates had Europe sitting up and taking as the Bundesliga began to show its strength.

That result secured Schalke’s qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League stages and they travel to Istanbul to face Turkish champions Galatasaray on Wednesday night in the first leg of their last-16 tie.

But barring a miracle which would see the seven time German Champions (all pre-Bundesliga) crowned European champions at Wembley in May, they are unlikely to be back in next season’s competition.

To say that Schalke’s season has collapsed is a massive understatement. Since that impressive October night in London when they were also second in the German league, they have lost seven of their 14 league, winning just three times. That poor run has dropped them down to 8^th in the Bundesliga and also saw the sacking of Huub Stevens, the architect of that win over Arsenal.

Strong squad

Just before the winter break he was replaced by Jens Keller who had very little top level management experience. The ex-Stuttgart coach has only managed one win in a nine goal thriller against Hannover 96 on January 18^th and may be dismissed sooner rather than later.

Schalke may have lost the dynamic Lewis Hotlby to Tottenham in January but they still boast one of the strongest squads in the Bundesliga. Goal machine Klaas Jan Huntelaar remains at the Veltins Arena alongside the likes of Jefferson Farfan, Benedikt Howedes, Julian Draxler and the on-loan Ibrahim Afellay who picked up an injury in January.

They also brought in Brazilian winger Michel Bastos and his compatriot Raffael during the transfer window.

But this is a club that seems to revel in instability, having racked up 15 head coaches in the past decade. The last time they had a settled management team was during Huub Stevens first stint at the club from 1996 to 2002, a period which culminated in a UEFA Cup title and two German Cups. It also saw the Dutchman named coach of the century by Schalke’s fans.

Those same fans have had little to celebrate since the 1930s and early 40s, a period of stellar success for the club, which coincidently mirrored the ascent of the Nazis.

Match-fixing scandal

But they have failed to win a league title since the establishment of the Bundesliga in 1963, despite being one of the strongest clubs in the country.

Instability reared its head again in 1971 just as Schalke appeared to be on the cusp of a promising era.  One of the biggest match-fixing scandals in European football history saw many of Schalke’s players banned for life, plunging the club into crisis.

The 1980s were a decade defined by yo-yoing between the top two divisons and it was not until the early 90s that they managed to re-establish themselves consistently in the Bundesliga.

And while the era since the mid-90s has been one of Schalke’s most successful they have never really capitalized on their vast potential to the same extent as bitter local rivals Borussia Dortmund who won the Champions League in 1997 as well as multiple league titles.

Last season the club was the 14^th richest in Europe and the third wealthiest in Germany according to the Deloitte Money List. Its academy has also produced the likes of Mesut Ozil and Manuel Neuer who have had success at other clubs and gone on to become national team stars. But the constant instability means these players tend to move on eventually.

Schalke would have been favourites going into the tie with Galatasaray but with the way results are going, you would have to fancy the Turkish giants to end the Bundesliga club’s involvement in Europe.