It wasn’t that long ago that you had to have “a little” imagination, Klaus Allofs is happy to admit that. To believe that everything will be fine at Fortuna Düsseldorf, that the fallen traditional club can play for promotion to the Bundesliga again.
Since Monday evening at the latest, this has also been very well imaginable for unimaginative people: The 2: 1 (1: 0) against relegated SC Paderborn was the fifth league victory in a row, Fortuna is now in the middle of the race for the coveted places: fifth and only three points behind the leader Hamburger SV.
For a couple of weeks, says club board member Allofs in the “kicker” interview, it has been paying off “that no one went headless when things were bumpy at the beginning”. And it was really pretty bumpy. Starting with the goal of promotion, Fortuna stumbled through the season for nine game days, at the latest after the 0: 5 at VfL Bochum, the chair of coach Uwe Rösler began to wobble.
“Our goal is the Bundesliga”
Fortuna came close to the relegation places, specialist and local press questioned the coach, who had already started the season with a mortgage: In the summer, Rösler had not prevented relegation from the first division and still got his chance. Until the beginning of December, it looked like the 52-year-old wouldn’t use it.
The board of directors around Allofs did not want a coaching discussion to arise, but Rösler should not have allowed himself a whole season in midfield. “With our options,” says Allofs today, “we have to be competitive in the second division. There are some hurdles to overcome, but our goal is the Bundesliga.”
“We have seldom shone”
And so Rösler made the turnaround just in time. The upheaval in personnel and many injuries made the start of the season difficult, but the team now looks solid – without being completely convincing. Five wins in a row, that sounds more confident than it was.
“We rarely shone,” says Allofs, and Fortuna weakened itself over the course of the season through penalties and dismissals. And Rösler also sees “a lot of potential” in his team, but it is only “on the way Top team “of the league.
At least the foundations have now been laid, and there is good news on top of that. Top scorer Kenan Karaman put an end to the rumors of a winter change, “the fans don’t need to worry. I want to make the promotion with Fortuna,” he said on Monday evening on Sky.
Allofs also sees the opportunities in Düsseldorf “by no means exhausted. We still have a few arrows in our quiver.” And Fortuna will need it. The race for promotion has only just begun.
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