Drawing a line under it
Hartberg coach Schmid is stepping down at the end of the season!
It had been looming for weeks, and shortly before kickoff of the Bundesliga clash with SK Rapid, it became official—the big bombshell has dropped in the Hartberg camp! “I won’t be signing a contract with Hartberg next season,” announced coach Manfred Schmid, who was suspended for the away match against Grün-Weiß, via TV!
Even before kickoff against Rapid, the big bombshell dropped in the Hartberg camp: “I won’t be signing a contract with Hartberg next season,” announced suspended coach Manfred Schmid—who was only allowed to sit in the stands on Wednesday evening—via TV. “I’ve noticed that this is a topic in the locker room,” added the 55-year-old Viennese, “and the players need clarity before the four remaining important games of the championship round!” The key players have known for two days; now Schmid is hoping for a united front: “We’ve had a great time, but our visions (note: with Hartberg’s club management) just don’t align anymore!”
Thanks for a great time
Schmid isn’t angry with anyone, he emphasized at the Allianz Stadium—the soon-to-depart coach personally thanked President Brigitte Annerl, with whom he had a lively exchange in the stands during the match. Schmid is well aware that there are limits to Hartberg’s infrastructure development: “Reaching the championship group was like winning the title for us!” He defended chairman Erich Korherr: “He has a company to run and can’t always be available.” He also thanked the players for the great time: “You’ll find quite a few of them in the German Bundesliga.”
Strong focus on transition play
In 61 matches leading up to the away game against Rapid, Schmid averaged 1.49 points per game with Hartberg—with 24 wins, 19 draws, and 18 losses. TSV has recently played as a defensive bulwark with a strong focus on transition play.
I’ve noticed that it’s a topic in the locker room. And the players need clarity ahead of the four remaining crucial games of the championship round.
Manfred Schmid
Hartberg now faces the task of finding a replacement for the most successful Bundesliga coach in TSV history after 21 months. Whether the former Germany-based coach (who served as co-coach and interim coach at Dortmund and 1. FC Köln) will indeed return abroad, as rumors have suggested, remains to be seen.
Hartberg will now have to look for an (Austrian) coach on the transfer market: At the moment, the situation is somewhat easier than when Markus Schopp left two years ago, as there are several good candidates available. Sturm’s championship-winning coach Jürgen Säumel, Hartberg legend Markus Schopp, and Gerald Scheiblehner (most recently with Grasshoppers Zurich) would be available, and Gerhard Struber is also back from Bristol. The only question is who is available for Hartberg and its potentially diminished future.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.