WChristmas 2020 will probably be forever remembered by the new sporting leadership of FSV Mainz 05. On Christmas Eve, Christian Heidel, concerned with the question of whether he should return to his old club as a board member, contacted both former coach Martin Schmidt and former professional player Bo Svensson – with the question of whether they would also make a comeback on Bruchweg can imagine. You could. And thus Heidel’s most important prerequisite for his renewed commitment was given.
“I wanted to get a team together that I have the feeling that they fit together,” said Heidel on Tuesday lunchtime when he and sports director Schmidt introduced the new head coach Svensson at a digital press conference. It should be a team “that you don’t have to explain to Mainz 05 and that you don’t have to explain to Mainz. And Bo is a very important cornerstone for this. The coach is the most important person in the club, that’s what I’ve always said. “
In fact, Svensson knows the club, and the fans know the Dane, who came to Mainz 13 years ago and spent more years (seven) here than anywhere else except in his hometown of Copenhagen. The central defender played in the second division under Jürgen Klopp, rose to the first division with Jörn Andersen, and was particularly marked in the five years under Thomas Tuchel.
If he hadn’t had bad luck with injuries several times, it would have been significantly more than 109 league games for the Rheinhessen. “Going back to Mainz was a special decision for me,” says the 41-year-old, whose family stayed on the Rhine for the past year and a half, which he spent at the Austrian second division club FC Liefering, the academy team of RB Salzburg.
“Start a new project with Bo”
Unlike the relegation competitor FC Schalke 04, who hopes to be saved by the reactivated retired Christian Gross, the Mainz team think long term. Svensson got a contract until mid-2024. Three and a half years, including the second division if necessary. “We want to start a new project with Bo,” explained Heidel. Svensson is “a piece of Mainz 05” – but that is not the reason for having signed him. Rather, the decisive factor is Svensson’s work, which he has already done for several years in the club’s own youngsters from the U16 to the U19 and most recently in Austria. That is why the Mainz team were ready to buy the Dane out of his contract with RB. They had collected around 1.5 million in mid-2019 for Svensson’s release from Austria, and they are now transferring the same amount back “plus a shot glass on top”.
Bo Svensson knows what a difficult job he is taking on. “The table is not the best starting position, but I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t convinced that we can master this challenge,” he said. Obviously, having assumed responsibility for a squad that has been said to be difficult to train and not have the necessary identification in the past weeks, months, years, does not scare him. He still has to get an exact impression. Nevertheless, he is convinced: “We have the necessary quality. But we have to work really hard to turn things around. ”Already on Saturday against Eintracht Frankfurt (3:30 pm in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky).
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