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Jochen Schneider can now be considered a veteran, even by Schalke standards. He has been working for the Gelsenkirchen football club since March 2019, and on December 18, 2020, the “Sports and Communication Board” moderated the fourth change of coach. The communication had escaped him again, because the release of Manuel Baum and the appointment of Huub Stevens had been known hours before the official announcement of the association.
The move looks like a panic reaction, which is understandable after Baum’s devastating ten-game series without a win and four draws. After the bad experience with David Wagner, Schneider wanted to avoid the mistake of holding on to a failed coach for too long.
Errors made by Schneider
The supervisory board, on the other hand, shows patience with Schneider, because Baum’s engagement was another mistake by the sporting director, who had already released manager Michael Reschke a few weeks earlier, who is as miserable as Baum in the cost estimate -benefit. The external image of the club, for which he is also responsible as director of communication, has become a disaster in recent months. Schneider himself described it as “devastating” that internal affairs were quickly making their way into the public domain.
This is one of the reasons why Schneider stressed during a digital press conference that coordination with the Baum Staff Supervisory Board had been “internally open, externally with the utmost confidentiality.” He admitted a “controversial discussion”. It was amazing that the separation from Baum was at the end of a “process of weeks and months.” Manuel Baum started working for Schalke on September 30. When asked when he had doubts about the coach, Schneider avoided.
The sports directive again ruled out that he will voluntarily resign from his job. He is not someone who escapes: “If the board of directors says so, I’m going home.”
Stevens for the fourth time Schalke coach
Stevens will be the coach of FC Schalke 04 for the fourth time. Their task is theoretically defined in a simple way, the implementation in practice should be more difficult: on Saturday, FC Schalke 04 will play at the bottom of the table against Arminia Bielefeld and should win to at least wait for relegation. to save in the new year. Then a new savior will come. After the cup match against fourth division SSV Ulm, Schalke want to announce the name.
Domenico Tedesco, Stevens’s predecessor until March 2019, is marketed as a candidate, again Dimitrios Grammozis. There are also classic rescuers like Friedhelm Funkel and Peter Neururer.
Schneider and Stevens are now switching roles for the second time in less than two years. Most of the time it was the 67-year-old Dutchman’s job to monitor and evaluate Schneider’s work as a member of the board of directors. Stevens, chosen by fans as the “coach of the century,” was regarded as a representative of athletic competition on a committee that for decades was perceived as the court of Clemens Tönnies. He is said to have raised his voice there, for example, against an engagement by Sebastian Rudy in the summer of 2018, who was hired by Schneider’s predecessor Christian Heidel. They did not listen to Stevens, who rarely spoke publicly as a member of the board.
The last time was not the last time
It has been almost a quarter of a century since Schalke first introduced Huub Stevens as a coach. His first time was marked by winning the Uefa Cup, two cups and the heartbreaking championship for four minutes in 2001. The second time ended in December 2012 with an exemption as table 17.
“That was definitely the last time,” Stevens said in the spring of 2019 after he replaced Schalke with Tedesco at table 14. He had taken over and was back there after ten games. The fact that, in the meantime, he decisively returned Borussia Dortmund to the championship race with a derby win was a nice side effect.
The “definitive” end of his career as a coach was the second. He also announced it in February 2016 after he was stopped at TSG Hoffenheim due to cardiac arrhythmias.
Stevens “burns” and flirts
Now he has reappeared as a savior. In this role, he achieved success at Hamburger SV, which led from last place in the UEFA Cup table. Threatened with relegation VfB Stuttgart succeeded twice, and Stevens kept the class twice thanks to a pragmatic, sometimes cynical football.
Schalke 2020’s mission is limited to 90 minutes plus injury time in the Bundesliga. “I’m on fire,” Stevens said when asked about his motivation. He smiled, just like when asked if this time it definitely means “Let yourself be surprised.” The next panic in Schalke may come.
