It was a wild year for FC Red Bull Salzburg. Matthias Jaissle moved to Saudi Arabia just before the first Bundesliga game. His successor Struber had to accept a European Cup exit after the autumn and later had to leave Salzburg as league leaders. Under interim coach Cinel, after ten years at the top, the team only managed to finish second.
Pepjin Ljinders is the coach for the coming season. However, he could have saved the series championship last season.
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Lijnders cancellation last summer
“Salzburg wanted me last summer, but I said no. When I spoke to them again, I had a good feeling. The way they looked after my wife Danielle and our children was incredible,” Lijnders told “The Athletic”. Salzburg probably asked him for a meeting after Jaissle left. In the end, Gerhard Struber followed.
In the recent past, the city of Mozart has been used as a career springboard for bigger tasks. No coach of the Red Bull era went into a third Bundesliga season.
But Lijnders is not thinking in the short term. “I worked for five years at PSV, seven at Porto, and now ten at Liverpool. I’m not going to Salzburg for one or two years. I want to build something there,” said the former Klopp assistant.
Salzburg coach was a topic at Liverpool
He could have followed the German into the Reds. “Jürgen has asked me a few times in the past few years,” said Lijnders, who always answered “no.”
After ten years, the Dutchman needed a new challenge. He saw Liverpool as a joint project with Klopp.
“FSG” president Mike Gordon informed Lijnders in February that he was not considered for the job. “Pep, we really thought about you. But it’s only fair that we don’t take you after Jürgen,” Gordon is said to have said.
The new Salzburg coach adds: “I don’t know 100 percent what I would have answered if Mike Gordon had asked me. You say ‘no, no, no’, but then…”
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2024-05-26 13:08:44
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