The pressure could hardly be greater: 1. FC Magdeburg has been sporting downhill for two years. Now, after the first three game days, the team has reached the bottom of the third division with only one point. And now there is also a big East Derby. The FCM will meet SG Dynamo this Saturday in Dresden. The relegated from Saxony did not start satisfactorily either, but has already scored three points more in twelfth place and of course does not want to say goodbye to the role of the promotion favorite.
Mario Kallnik remains calm. Also because the FCM’s season goal is not that ambitious. “We want to get 46 points as quickly as possible. We can build on this foundation if there is still enough time, «said Magdeburg’s managing director and sports director in an interview with» nd «. He explains the bad start to the season as follows: “After the cup game against second division Darmstadt, which we only lost in extra time, we had eight injured players. A little later it was ten. So the team sets itself up on its own. And if players have to play in positions they are unfamiliar with, that doesn’t help stabilize. “
Actually, after relegation to the second division in 2019, 1. FC Magdeburg wanted to be further than just keeping an eye on relegation. “We want to establish ourselves in the third division in the first year so that we can be back in the second division in three years.” This is how Kallnik outlined his plan for “nd” in the summer of 2019. Now, looking back on the past season, he says: “It was a turbulent season. Our goal was to develop the team further. We didn’t make it. She wasn’t strong enough on the inside either, not a real team. In the end, however, we managed to prevent relegation. «In order to make up for the lost year, a lot has to fit together in view of the strong opposition. The team, which was rebuilt with 14 newcomers and two of their own, believes Kallnik is at least “competitive”.
Two unsuccessful years have left behind even more profound traces than just sporting ones at FCM. Andreas Probst, member of the association’s economic council, questioned Kallnik’s work on Monday: “We have been discussing for months whether his abundance of power is good for the association. And our supervisory bodies such as the executive committee and the supervisory board are silent. «Kallnik himself does not see this as a power struggle at 1. FC Magdeburg. But what else should it be when such serious words are deliberately circulated in public? Probst had chosen the route via the daily newspaper »Magdeburger Volksstimme«.
“Criticism is legitimate and okay if it is not mixed with insinuations and falsehoods. In this case, the opinion of two people was declared to be the opinion of the committee, ”explains Kallnik“ nd ”. Similar to Probst, the chairman of the ten-member economic council, Andreas Müller, had made a statement. Above all, it was criticized that Kallnik is both managing director and sports director. “In principle, it is nothing new, but old, tried and tested, but it is presented differently,” says Kallnik and adds: “From 2012 to 2018, I was already responsible for finance and sport at the same time. Within this structure, 1.FC Magdeburg moved up from the regional league to the third division and later to the second division. “
The success of 1. FC Magdeburg in recent years is closely linked to the name Kallnik, and not just the sporting one. When the now 45-year-old started his work eight years ago, the club was almost insolvent and has been debt-free for three years. And that the FCM, as a third division, will remain stable in the Corona period is further evidence of sustainable development work. »We had and currently have an immense amount of work. In the area of ticketing, for example, you still have to work flexibly from matchday to matchday. However, our employee structure is so solid that we managed to do it all well and will continue to do so in the future, ”says Kallnik.
Of course, as a manager, he also has to assume responsibility in bad times. The renewed takeover of the position of sporting director from Maik Franz, who had held this position since summer 2018, was a first step, according to Kallnik: “When relegation threatened last season and only eleven games remained, we decided to be successful for a long time practiced structure to secure relegation. «Since reaching this goal on the penultimate match day, Kallnik sees the downward trend of the FCM stopped. The bare figures of the new season in the result sport soccer don’t prove him right. And despite public support from the presidium and the supervisory board of the association after the criticism of Kallnik from the economic council, the following applies: As long as the team doesn’t win, things will remain restless in Magdeburg. Success in the prestigious derby in Dresden would be a good start.
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