Trouble threatens in Münster
Schalke 04 dreams of a world star coup and is fighting for survival
September 26, 2024, 7:14 p.m
Coach gone and a successor is far from being in sight. At Schalke they are dreaming of Raul these days and are moving further and further away from reality. It’s called a relegation battle at Preußen Münster. With an interim coach who has lost his last five games.
The longing is great in Gelsenkirchen. When is he finally coming? When will the coach come who will lead Schalke 04 to success again? In Karel Geraerts, a coach who started with high hopes has once again failed in this task, thus reopening the search. And once again the name of the great Raul floats around the office from memories of better times.
But there is currently no sign of Raul’s Champions League glory, the present is the 2nd Bundesliga and Jakob Fimpel. In the league game against newly promoted Preußen Münster on Saturday evening and most likely also in the following home game against Hertha BSC, the U23 coach should initiate the turnaround as an interim solution.
Even though the focus is once again on the ongoing coaching misery, Schalke urgently needs points first and foremost. For the Prussians, who celebrated their first win of the season at Jahn Regensburg last matchday, it should ideally be three, because after a good start to the season (5-1 against Eintracht Braunschweig), Schalke slipped to 16th place in the relegation zone – once again. Against the Darmstadt team, who had been plagued by severe crises for months, the score was 3:5 after a 3:0 lead before Geraerts was fired.
What did the Schalke bosses want in Madrid?
Those responsible around director of professional football Ben Manga apparently want to give themselves time until the international break in mid-October to clarify Geraerts’ successor. According to reports, as with the Belgian’s signing a year ago, the focus is increasingly looking abroad.
There is also talk about Raul, who enchanted Schalke fans with his goals and his aura between 2010 and 2012. The now 47-year-old Spaniard has been the coach of RM Castilla, Real Madrid’s second representative, since 2019. Manga and Schalke’s CEO Matthias Tillmann traveled to the Spanish capital last week, but apparently not because of the former Real star.
Manga, who has only been under contract with Schalke 04 since May 2024, has secured all power for the time being after the expulsion of Geraerts and club legend Marc Wilmots. His work will come into greater focus in the coming weeks. Most recently this week he was unhappy in communication. In a meeting with journalists he commented on the coaching question. His comments had become public and the 50-year-old had them withdrawn, citing the background nature of the statements.
Fimpel cleans up
Whether Raul or someone else – when a successor to Geraerts is found, the 35-year-old Fimpel, who does not yet have the football teaching license necessary for a long-term position as head coach, will go back to the U23. He had recently lost five times in a row in the Regionalliga West after seven points from three games at the start.
Nevertheless, Fimpel took U-23 captain Tim Albutat with him to the first team and called Steve Noode, Mauro Zalazar, Peter Remmert and Aris Bayindir to the youth team. Fimpel will also be without Dominick Drexler. The midfielder had a falling out with Geraerts and has been no longer allowed to take part in team training since then – and apparently it will stay that way, even if a new coaching hope has been found.
