Darmstadt’s Relegation Sealed as Paul Fernie Set to Join as Sporting Director

After the 4-0 defeat in Mainz, Darmstadt’s relegation has been practically sealed since this weekend. At the same time, a breakthrough has been achieved in the past few days in the search for a new sporting director.

Paul Fernie is about to move to Darmstadt. IMAGO/Jan Huebner

The farewell of sports director Carsten Wehlmann last December was briefly discussed again on Saturday after the Darmstadt defeat in Mainz, when coach Torsten Lieberknecht reflected on the various reasons for the impending Lilien relegation. The fact that the current Kiel sports director terminated his contract on time in December and was then immediately released by the club did not logically contribute to the stability at Böllenfalltor. In addition, the search for a successor took longer than those responsible for President Rüdiger Fritsch had initially imagined.

However, it is now clear who will be responsible for the squad change and the expected new start in the 2nd league in the summer: According to kicker information, the Lilies have decided on Paul Fernie. The Englishman, who celebrates his 37th birthday next Wednesday, has been working in the same role at SV Wehen Wiesbaden since 2021.

Unpretentious team player with an excellent network

At first glance, Fernie fits the Darmstadt profile ideally – as an unpretentious team player with an excellent network who is used to having to be quicker and more creative than the competition when it comes to signing players. And for whom a step to the Böllenfalltor should not just be another job, but also the next personal career stage in view of the club’s collar size. Despite his relatively young age, he has “seen and experienced a lot in professional football,” explained Fernie in a conversation with the a few months ago HE DOES.

Although it wasn’t enough to have a professional career as an active player, he started as a youth coach at Leeds United at the age of 20. Fernie later worked as a scout for Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers, among others – and first joined Wiesbaden in 2016 as head of the scouting department. The fruits of the work became clearly visible with promotion to the second division in 2019.

From the Red Bull cosmos deliberately back to the football province

Shortly afterwards, Fernie looked for the next opportunity to broaden his horizons, moved to the Red Bull cosmos and headed the scouting department at RB New York for almost two seasons. Before he returned to the Hessian state capital in 2021 – and thus quite deliberately to the football province. Now with even greater responsibility as sporting director at SV Wehen Wiesbaden, which was previously relegated to the 3rd league. Two years later, under Fernie’s direction, the club managed to get promoted back to the 2nd league, where it is in the middle of a relegation battle after recent defeats in the basement duels against Osnabrück (0:1) and Rostock (1:3).

When Fernie took office in 2021, she signed a permanent contract, which is usually accompanied by correspondingly short notice periods. There should therefore be nothing standing in the way of an official start in Darmstadt by July 1st at the latest. Incidentally, Fernie already watched the Lilien low blow in the Mainz MEWA Arena live on site on Saturday.

2024-04-07 07:54:41
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