2. Bundesliga: Schalke coach Geraerts has to go – disaster is coming – Sport

There was cola and apple spritzer on the table, but the participants of the meeting looked as if they needed a couple of double miner’s schnapps. The leaders of FC Schalke 04 had spontaneously gathered in the conference room behind the west stand after the 3:5 defeat against Darmstadt 98, and passers-by in the adjacent stairwell were allowed to watch the special meeting live – no one had bothered to draw the curtains.

You could see the supervisory board member Youri Mulder, UEFA Cup winner in 1997 and therefore a legend for life, cursing, gesticulating and despairing at his own anger, while the council chairman Axel Hefer, who has been the club’s leading figure for three years, sipped his Coke with a blank look on his face and the CEO Matthias Tillmann fought his nervousness by walking around the room. At the other end of the table: the financially powerful Christina Rühl-Hamers, whom some Schalke fans see as the bastion of reason in the club, but who other Schalke fans contemptuously call “accountant” because they believe her frugal monetary policy is harmful. Was this meeting, which took place barely a quarter of an hour after the final whistle, the “intensive discussion” that was mentioned in a press release announcing the dismissal of coach Karel Geraerts and sporting director Marc Wilmots? One thing is certain: the debate did not have to start from scratch, as Geraerts’ job had long been considered under threat.

Geraerts never managed to give his team real stability

The Dutchman Mulder, who is one of the professional sports experts on the supervisory board due to his football biography, had suggested the Belgian Geraerts as a successor to Thomas Reis almost a year ago. Due to his work at the Union Saint-Gilloise club, Geraerts, 42, had been named coach of the year in Belgium’s first division the previous season. In Gelsenkirchen, he was now given a bad report: it was not the trend of three defeats, which were recently seen in the second division, that had primarily suggested the separation, but rather “the negative overall development” and the lack of progress by the team and individual players.

The 3:5 defeat against Darmstadt after a brilliant first half with an absolutely safe 3:0 lead contributed to the impression of its dramatic effect. But anyone who later spoke of a crazy game did not understand Schalke 04. Geraerts never managed to give his sporting construct a go, and so he allowed himself to be predicted doom without any supernatural abilities with a little expertise and Schalke experience.

For example, when the referee checked the screen for a possible handball by Schalke defender Derek Murkin when the score was 3:3 and ultimately decided against a penalty, Kenner predicted that the 3:4 would only be postponed for a moment – because there was still a corner for Darmstadt. And that led, as promised, to 3:4 with the third goal by Swedish attacker Isac Lidberg (87th minute).

The equalizer also came as expected for the long-suffering home fans. Not because Darmstadt 98 exerted irresistible pressure, but because everyone could see that the unsettled Schalke players would make a fundamental mistake. Not unexpectedly, defender Marcin Kaminski, who had earned a lot of points but was not without reason relegated to the reserves before the season, was guilty of tying his own legs as the last man trying to clear the ball. Lidberg was left alone in front of the goal.

Shortly before the half-time whistle, they allow the opponent to score – as if on principle

Schalke looked good for half a game. Their offense, which is highly presentable in the second division, with the constantly improving technician Amin Younes, the goal scorer Moussa Sylla and the football-savvy captain Kenan Karaman as well as the fast wingers Tobias Mohr and Christopher Antwi-Adjei, dominated proceedings. The 3-0 lead reflected the balance of power between the teams. But Schalke can be relied on one thing: immediately before the half-time whistle, they allow the opponent to score a goal, apparently as a matter of principle. And as in the most recent defeats – the 1-3 against Cologne and the 0-2 against Karlsruhe – the goal had a decisive effect this time too. Fraser Hornby’s goal from a handball metre resuscitated the Darmstadt team, who had rightly been written off.

The fact that Geraerts now has to go is not least due to his choice of personnel. In the last three games he has fielded six different central defenders, in Karlsruhe he demonstratively called up the young Argentinian Felipe Sánchez and the equally young Belgian Martin Wasinski, who were promptly overwhelmed by the in-form KSC. Their inappropriate nomination was mainly the result of an unprofessional, defiant reaction to public statements by squad planner Ben Manga, who had previously campaigned for Sánchez.

Open detailed view

Geraerts had a marked non-relationship with the influential strategist Manga, 50. Manga would have preferred to have let the coach go before the season when he was still hesitant to continue his commitment to Schalke. Marc Wilmots’ former compatriot – now he has to leave the house with him. Wilmots’ achievements in the nine months as sporting director have not yet been reported extensively.

Wilmots will of course retain his hero status as the 1997 cup winner, the club assured – a final nod to nostalgia. Gerald Asamoah and Mike Büskens were already expelled from the professional division in the summer. In addition to a new coach, Schalke is now also looking for a new sporting director. Until then, Ben Manga will be in charge, and the team will initially be looked after by U23 coach Jakob Fimpel.