“Get your suppository out of your butt” |
Baumgart takes on Uefa
Get out of Europe. The trip to Cologne in the Conference League ended on Thursday after eight games despite a strong 2-2 (0-2) win over Nice – FC were just one goal short of winning the group. But at the end of the euro adventure, it was mainly UEFA that caused frustration.
Coach Steffen Baumgart (50) finally took on the European association and settled accounts with UEFA in his eight-game record in the presence of several association officials and observers. His criticism: too many protocols, too many regulations and rules and too much fuss about trifles and too much interference.
“Lots of things that get on my nerves”
Baumgart: “There are a lot of things that get on my balls. UEFA is the service provider, they should organize the competition and not be the focus of it all. The team should. But sometimes I have the feeling that it’s a bit different: that we’re just the by-product. And I just don’t like that.”
There were similar UEFA moments again against Nice. “Two minutes before the end, the boys are emotional and stand in front of the benches and then the fourth official comes and wants to sit them down,” criticizes Cologne’s coach, who not only lacks the sensitivity of the officials in these situations.
Klartext Baumgart: “There are a lot of things that make me think: Guys, get your suppository out of your butt and relax a bit. It’s about football and I just miss that a bit. I don’t want to offend anyone, but that just annoys me.”
PICTURE white: The worst thing he did was that after the bad beating and rioting game in Nice (1:1) in September, which he had to watch in the stands or in a box because of his suspension, he didn’t go for ages and despite all the circumstances his team was allowed, but was held in the box at the time.
Steffen Baumgart in a box during the Nice first leg. Here he followed the game with his family and was not allowed to go out for a long time
There are also many little things. Rules about where press conferences must be held. Regulations on when and how masks must be worn. Baumgart: “All the protocols that have to be observed. Sometimes I feel like I have to walk exactly on a white line and if I don’t I get in trouble.”
Baumgart takes on UEFA. Above all, however, he wants his criticism to be understood constructively. “Don’t get me wrong: I still think it’s nice – not that it comes across wrong,” says Cologne’s coach despite all the regulations and admits: “I’d like to experience it again with FC.”
