Sercan Sararer looked around as if he couldn’t believe it: had he actually just scored a goal? No offside, no whistling back? An equalizer after falling behind – when was Türkgücü the last time? Then the playmaker from Türkgücü Munich ran up to interim coach Alper Kayabunar and hugged him. Sararer turned 32 on Sunday, and Kayabunar just accepted a kind of 36th birthday present with this goal on Monday evening – but that wasn’t the reason for the intimacy. “He’s very important to me, he’s a very good friend,” said Sararer about the young coach at Magentasport. He, in turn, can give his team a lot in this predicament that Türkgücü is currently in, but certainly no experience, because most of the players have more of it than the former national league kicker Kayabunar.
It is a bit surprising that the mood is so good with the self-proclaimed candidate for promotion, who is in 16th place in the third soccer league. In terms of play, that helped at least a little against the long-undefeated FSV Zwickau, but in front of a mere 388 spectators in the Olympic Stadium it was only enough for a 2-2 draw. After all: Kayabunar noted after the game that it was the first time this season “that we still scored after falling behind”. And Sararer, he actually promised him a goal before the game. “We were aggressive again, we had a clear plan again,” said the latter in turn. Of course, that sounded as if none of this had been done under the coach Peter Hyballa, who was on leave. It was not yet in a spirit of optimism, but we seem to be moving there on the way.
Now, in many ways, Türkgücüs Zehner is well suited to illustrate the situation at Munich. Last season, especially at the beginning, he was so admired by the entire league for his wit that he probably narrowly missed a Ballon d’Or nomination. But this season he was rarely seen; he had met for the last time on the second match day against 1860 Munich. But if the mood in the team is bad, so is Sararer’s body language. At the same time, the former Turkish international is also a top earner in league three, that’s no big secret. And thus also an important part of the Türkgücü dilemma: Managing director Max Kothny regularly refers to the fact that the players are “well paid”.
Managing director Kothny wants to sign the new coach “as late as possible”
At Türkgücü, however, they have also learned in recent weeks that you can’t buy team spirit. From around the team you can hear that they hardly spend time together, after training, for example, the restaurant at the local district sports facility would be ideal. The hire-and-fire practice of the president and investor Hasan Kivran does the rest to depress motivation, says a former player, of whom there have been dozens since the third division promotion in summer 2020: If I don’t even know whether I’ll still be part of the squad during the winter break, why should I try harder then?
“The boys should have fun with the game,” says Kayabunar. That succeeded in the days after Hyballa’s leave of absence in training. When asked, Managing Director Kothny explains that he has the feeling that the sense of community is gradually developing. Conversely, when asked when the new coach will be presented, it sounds almost as if it were a chore to look for one: The DFB requirement states that a new coach with a Uefa license can be found within 15 working days have to be. “As late as possible,” replies Kothny, saying they want to take their time with the decision. In fact, it can be seen that they would like to continue with Kayabunar, whom the players know. A newcomer would first have to build trust again. In any case, Kayabunar should be on the sidelines again on Saturday at Viktoria Berlin.
According to Kothny, he also asked the players what type of coach they would like now. The 24-year-old wants to make the team responsible, but also to approach them. And is quite self-critical about the mistakes that have been made as a person responsible for sports. The next personnel decision should be made as carefully as possible. We’ll see who Kothny will embrace: December 11th, one day after the deadline and the home game against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, is his birthday.
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