Are you MK in disguise?

Beesotted's man in Germany - Jan the St Pauli Bee - lifts the lid on tour opponents RB Leipzig who the Bees face on July 27th - and finds a few parallels with the MK Dons and Crawley Town.

RB were 'founded' in 2009 when bankrupt FC Sachsen Leipzig and SSV Markranstädt were merged/bulldozed together by Dietrich Mateschitz - owner of the Red Bull brand.

In Germany it is illegal to found a club with a brand name in it's title in order for commercial gain - so Mateschitz bent the rule by naming the new team 'Rasen Ballsport Leipzig' - roughly translating into 'grass ball sports'.

Coincidentally the new club crest was a replica of the Red Bull logo - with Rasen Ballsport neatly shortened to 'R.B'

The club have spent a lot of money recruiting players from the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 (a similar approach to the ever so popular Crawley Town) but narrowly missed out on promotion to Germany's 3rd tier this season.

Their impressive stadium - formerly known as the Zentralstadion and the largest in what used to be East Germany - was refurbished using taxpayers money in time for the 2006 World Cup. In 2010 it was re-named the Red Bull Arena.

Whilst some RB fans are excited by the goal of Bundesliga football within ten years, others feel that the soul of their clubs has been somewhat sold out for commercial gain.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.