First the end of the Steffen Baumgart era, then the confirmation of the transfer ban: 1. FC Köln and sports director Christian Keller experienced turbulent days shortly before Christmas. However, Keller doesn’t think about personal consequences.
Don’t think about resigning: Cologne’s sports director Christian Keller IMAGO/Beautiful Sports
At 3:45 p.m. the international sports court CAS handed down the verdict to 1. FC Cologne: transfer ban, the Bundesliga club is not allowed to sign any new players in the coming winter window and the following summer. Just a few hours earlier, the seventeenth place in the table had also announced that they were separating from head coach Steffen Baumgart. All hell is currently breaking loose around the billy goats.
Baumgart’s doubts are the deciding factor
They sat down “collectively” on Wednesday evening after the 2-0 defeat at Union Berlin. It was “noticeable” that Baumgart was “heavily preoccupied” by his team’s ongoing decline, explains manager Keller. The job of Bundesliga coach is “nice, but also demanding. A job that you have to put a lot of energy into.” Baumgart’s great strength is his impulsiveness and energy, but “if this is not confirmed by results, doubts arise.”
Baumgart said that it was difficult for him to move forward at the moment. “That’s why it was clear that if there was no longer full conviction, we would no longer face the challenge together, but from January onwards in a new constellation,” says Keller.
What now Effzeh? The Baumgart-Aus in Cologne
1. FC Köln and head coach Steffen Baumgart are parting ways shortly before Christmas. The European Court of Justice comments on the Super League, which forces Sebastian Schonlau to take a break.
12/21/23 – 4:17 p.m. 1:20 minutes
Question of guilt: “No one is solely responsible”
Who is to blame for the misery? “Nobody is solely responsible,” says the managing director, and in the end it was the coach who left. Is Keller thinking about resigning, given that he is largely responsible for putting together the current squad? “No,” he says briefly and succinctly. Discussion ended, not a word of criticism from President Werner Wolf either. Incidentally, there are also “no thoughts of resignation” on the club board, which is probably the most important control body for the protagonists.
The assistant coaches should stay
So now Keller is looking for Baumgart’s successor. The three assistant coaches André Pawlak, René Wagner and Kevin McKenna should stay at Geißbockheim for the time being. Only Wagner, who came to Effzeh with Baumgart, could still be a candidate for departure.
Who will be the new boss then? So far they have not spoken to any candidates, says Keller, so decency towards Baumgart is essential. But of course we also have a “shadow squad” for coaches. The requirements profile is outlined as follows: “We have a clear game idea that has been implemented under Steffen Baumgart right down to the youth teams. Nothing should change about that.” Accordingly, the new coach must fit this idea – and, above all, “see the quality in the team that we also see.” A high level of identification with the city and the club is essential in the cathedral city anyway.
Of course, very little of this has been seen recently. The new coach should also increasingly “integrate and develop young players. We have good youth work, but far too few players have made the leap to the professionals.” Given the transfer ban, there is probably nothing else left for the time being anyway.
2023-12-22 12:21:00
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