Status: 09:28 a.m
Favre cancels Gladbach – “He no longer wants to work in Germany”
Lucien Favre has rejected Borussia Mönchengladbach. The search for coaches for the new season continues. Here sports director Roland Virkus explains why Favre will not take up the coaching position in Gladbach.
Borussia Mönchengladbach has had a terrible season. Manager Eberl left the club, then coach Hütter also parted ways. Lucien Favre should now ensure a spirit of optimism. Should.
DThe eagerly awaited good news never came. Even worse. Sports director Roland Virkus destroyed the spirit of optimism that had prevailed around Borussia Mönchengladbach for a few days with an honest answer. But this had to be teased out of him. He had already spoken for 32 minutes when a member asked what was up with Lucien Favre. The commitment of the Swiss was considered a foregone conclusion in Gladbach. But that’s not the case. On the contrary.
“I don’t think Lucien Favre will be a coach at Borussia Mönchengladbach for the next two years,” Virkus announced on Monday evening, to the horror of the around 1,800 members present at the club’s annual general meeting.
The man, who after his work between 2011 and 2015 is still admired in Gladbach like no other coach since Hennes Weisweiler, was actually chosen to lead Borussia back into the top flight of the Bundesliga after a difficult year and a half. According to media reports, Favre’s return already seemed perfect. But after several concrete discussions, the coach, known as a procrastinator, finally canceled.
Vircus squirms
“You can be sure that we have done everything for it. But he told us that he has the diamond in his heart but doesn’t want to work in Germany again,” Virkus said, causing unease among fans and members. As the successor to Max Eberl, who had suddenly left the faltering long-time top club at the beginning of the year, he had long struggled with concrete statements about the future in his first sporting balance sheet.
Sports director Roland Virkus
Source: dpa/Marius Becker
Where those present had expected concrete measures to improve sport, the 55-year-old spoke about the reduction in staff. “We have far too long decision-making paths. We want to clean that up for the new season,” announced Virkus. His core statement on personal details, on the other hand, was: “I can’t tell you more about it.”
Favre’s return campaign should actually be a liberation for Virkus, who is under pressure after “a very tough four months”. The search for a coach continues – and while the competition is chugging around on the transfer market, there are no news about Borussia’s departures or arrivals. The necessity of restructuring the squad has been propagated for over a year.
“There is no IPO in the house”
According to Virkus, the “little squad movement” is one of the reasons for the tenth place in the team, the worst in sporting terms since 2010/2011. Even now it is faltering again because no player willing to change has found a new club so far and Borussia has received a high sum in the millions.
The general meeting was held in the stadium
Source: pa/dpa/Revierfoto
“First we have to see who is leaving us,” confirmed Virkus again. Two seasons shaped by Corona have reduced equity from over 100 million to around 72 million euros. CFO Stephan Schippers presented on Monday after the 16.7 million euro loss of the previous year a minus of 14.6 million euros for the past financial year 2021. Schippers therefore confirmed economic mind games, but ruled out one thing at least in the short term: ” There is no IPO in the house.”
Schippers had previously confirmed that they would at least think about it. “We also have to see how Dortmund did it, Dortmund is a traditional club, we are a traditional club – and yet Borussia Dortmund is listed on the stock exchange,” said Schippers. “You have to be open to everything. But everything in its own time. Everything has to fit.” And almost four weeks before the start of training with whatever coach, not much is going on in Gladbach.
