Referee Benjamin Cortus not only heard the anger of the Schalke crowd, but also felt it. On the way to the dressing room, he was booed by thousands and beer rained down on him like a downpour. According to the fans, someone should kindly pay for the fact that Schalke 04 had lost 3:4 to Hansa Rostock, who was sixth in the table, especially with a goal conceded in the final minute, which added a worthy punch line to the confused performance of the home side. Only the rainmakers themselves had to atone, they were immediately taken away by stewards – and the next day Schalke’s coach Dimitrios Grammozis, who was given a leave of absence as a result of the defeat.
The high court had already met in the stadium a good hour after the end of the game: Sports director Peter Knäbel, sports director Rouven Schröder and Youri Mulder, the supervisory board responsible for sports, recognized that there was no more room for maneuver. Schröder was no longer convinced that Grammozis would achieve the goal of promotion for the season.
Since the beginning of the year, both the results and the performance have been to be criticized, Knäbel agreed, “the further development of the squad was discussed, but not seen”. Schröder already had doubts about Grammozis after his arrival in the summer, he argued that relegation to the Bundesliga was too great a burden. He already had an alternative solution at hand, but Knäbel got Grammozis to stay.
Schalke has not yet given up on the rise
On Thursday, Grammozis received the congratulations of a reporter who congratulated on the anniversary – a year in office, no Schalke coach had managed that for a long time. Two days later, the joke turned out to be an omen. Against an upright Hansa-Elf, Schalke kept running into new deficits. Simon Terodde equalized three times with his headers, each better than the last, but he was unable to make up for the structural and individual deficiencies in defence. Grammozis reprimanded the “poor remaining defence” in the team, but it was like so often: again he only realized afterwards how his team should have done it better. By the winter break he had formed the completely new team with good prospects, since then there has been no progress.
Schalke has not given up the fight for promotion despite being behind the top ranks. There are still direct duels with all the top teams, so Grammozis must now make way for the successor. From Friedhelm Funkel and Bruno Labbadia to Daniel Farke, many solutions are discussed in the audience, but it would not be a surprise if the skeptical sports director Schröder had made his choice long ago.
