Man in mask replaces manager at player reveal

Photo via Twitter @fcstpauli

You've just made a new signing and you want to show him off to the world but your manager isn't available for the photoshoot: What do you do?

Bring out the chairman for the scarf-over-head shot? Wait a few days for the boss to return? Or find the nearest willing volunteer, strap a mask of the head coach's face around his ears and get it all over with?

One particularly quirky German club chose the latter option on Wednesday, as St Pauli unveiled new striker Marvin Ducksch from Borussia Dortmund.

Tolle Nachricht: Der FC St. Pauli verpflichtet Marvin #Ducksch vom @BVB #fcsp 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Jnqgnvalt5

— FC St. Pauli (@fcstpauli) June 15, 2016

Not known for sticking to the norm, the Hamburg-based side - who ply their trade in the second tier of German football - took the unusual option when Ewald Lienen was not around to formally welcome Ducksch to the Millerntor-Stadion.

Instead, the 22-year-old frontman was greeted by a paper cut-out of Lienen's bespectacled mug after putting pen to paper on a three-year deal.

The pictures were subsequently posted on St Pauli's Twitter account and have been well received by football fans worldwide.

It might seem gimmicky coming from any other club but St Pauli have a history of embracing the unconventional.

Aside from the sausage train which delivers bratwurst and beer to supporters in the stands, the two beehives installed by the club to highlight the plight of honey bees worldwide and the skull-and-crossbones logo which flies above its stadium, there is a communal importance about this most offbeat of football clubs.

Unikat! #ewaldmaske #fcsp #ducksch pic.twitter.com/J7xpdffLLq

— FC St. Pauli (@fcstpauli) June 15, 2016

St Pauli grew exponentially through the 1980s as students, punks and squatters identified with its progressive outlook.

They promoted anti-homophobic and anti-racist campaigns well before most teams across the continent and have become something of a 'cult' club in Germany, encouraging an inclusive agenda borne out of frustrations with Hamburg football's political past.

No wonder playing for this eccentric team is appealing, even if you turn up to work and it turns out your boss is a paper facemask.

'I'm looking forward to the assignment at St Pauli and playing in front of really big crowds again,' Duckcsh said. 'I've kept tabs on a lot of St Pauli matches and the supporters always get behind the team.'

Indeed they do. In a big way.