Wiener Austria’s parting with coach Manfred Schmid continues to cause a stir.
During the week, the sports management issued a written statement on the decision, which aroused great indignation among the fans (read HERE >>>).
In an interview published on Sunday by “Delivery man“AG board member Gerhard Krisch still talks about the coaching change and defends himself against criticism from the fans.
It was “decided for good reason” not to rely on the 51-year-old Viennese as coach any longer. “We haven’t seen enough of the desired playstyle,” explains Krisch.
“I live well with Schmid”
“In the end, the bottom line was that the approaches to football were too different. And if some people think we’ve acted disrespectfully, then that doesn’t make sense,” replies the 57-year-old. “It wasn’t a decision against Manfred Schmid, but for Austria,” he continues.
He finds the criticisms of sporting director Manuel Ortlechner and himself unjustified: “Among other things, it is accused that Manuel Ortlechner and I took every opportunity to shoot at Manfred Schmid. That’s not true, I live well with Schmid.”
On December 5, however, it was clear “that there could no longer be a common path”, underlines Krisch.
Jürgen Werner sporting director soon?
The search for a successor is ongoing and Roland Brunmayr and Robert Klauß recently had the best chance.
In the midst of financial misery, however, it seems questionable to afford a new coach. Krisch says: “We have discussed the matter internally. We have to save internally, otherwise another sponsor will take over the job.”
One possibility could be “for an existing sponsorship to be expanded,” the council continued. He also reveals that “in the future there will certainly be a need for a sporting director”.
Krisch leaves it open whether Jürgen Werner will take up this position and says: “The supervisory board made the decision to install a sports director in the first quarter of 2023, who was independent of people. But of course Jürgen Werner would be an obvious choice. “
