Morgan Guilavogui’s double edged Alexander Blessin’s side towards safety as they try to become a top-flight fixture. One of the familiar tells of St Pauli’s standalone attitude to their kit, until recently, was the sleeve patch advertising a local brewer. Astra make much of their alternative worldview too, as well as their attachment to the location of their microbrewery in the Reeperbahn. Like the football club, they see themselves at the heart of St Pauli’s community.
![[Florian Wirtz is congratulated by Xabi Alonso]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4d42b55ad80959f778bc729ce026bf311895f608/0_67_2153_1291/master/2153.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Astra’s logo, spray-painted on the main stand at Millerntor, is particularly evocative of where they’re at. It’s a red heart with an anchor piercing the top, a nod to the city of Hamburg’s maritime heritage resembling a sailor’s tattoo (which is why it always looked so satisfying on the upper arm of St Pauli’s jerseys). Having waited over a decade to come back up they are trying to truly establish themselves in the top flight for the first time. To finally drop anchor, if you will.
In the week Oke Göttlich was re-elected president, having already completed a decade in the post, the club made a further move towards stability. They have always known that staying up this season would be touch and go, given their model and their beliefs, that have been addressed by their innovative model of future funding, selling their Millentor stadium to a cooperative of supporters.
Now St Pauli can be satisfied with January on the pitch. Two successive and vital wins against rivals for the drop have put them in a position of strength, in 13th. They are six points clear of Heidenheim, the current occupiers of the third-from-bottom relegation playoff spot, where they won last week, and leapfrogged Union Berlin on goal difference with Sunday’s 3-0 home victory.
