Over and out

Red Bull Salzburg sacks coach Pep Lijnders

Pepijn Lijnders has to go.(Bild: AP/Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Just five and a half months after signing for the city of Mozart, Pepijn Lijnders has to pack his bags again. As FC Red Bull Salzburg announced on Monday, the club has ended its collaboration with the Dutch coach.

"We began our announced analysis of an unfortunately unsatisfactory fall season some time ago. It was clear to see that we fell far short of our own expectations and goals in far too many games," explained Salzburg's managing director Stephan Reiter and Rouven Schröder in a joint statement.

New coach until January 3
The team in fifth place in the Austrian Bundesliga ultimately came to the conclusion that they needed a new coach to turn things around. "We would like to thank Pep for his work. He invested a lot of commitment and passion and also gave us important impetus for further development. We are now working very intensively on the search for a coach and will announce this as soon as a decision has been made in this regard," the statement continues. In any case, the club intends to start training under the new coach on January 3.

Lijnders signed as the successor to Gerhard Struber in Salzburg at the beginning of July, but expectations remained unfulfilled. In the Champions League, the 41-year-old managed to pick up just three points in six games, while the club is currently in fifth place in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Klopp confidant
Even the appointment of Jürgen Klopp - at whose side Lijnders had long worked as assistant coach at Liverpool FC - as "Head of Global Soccer" at Red Bull was ultimately unable to save the Dutchman from being let go.