“The descent is a free fall, you have to collect yourself first,” says club boss Helmut Schwarzl. In the summer the SKN St. Pölten had to go down to the Admiral 2nd league. The low point of turbulent years in which the “wolves” regularly made negative headlines.
“We never really made it into the Bundesliga, it was a constant battle. We thought: Can we continue like this or are we in a dead end? It quickly became clear to us that we had to make massive changes,” recapitulates Schwarzl.
In the summer, a new game philosophy was brought to the state capital with the coach duo Stephan Helm and Emanuel Pogatetz. At the end of the autumn season, the separation from long-term general manager Andreas Blumauer was announced. At the beginning of the year, Jan Schlaudraff (sport) and Matthias Gebauer (business) took up their management positions. Total renovation completed.
“We want…”
Now things should look better in St. Pölten. Not just sporty, but in general. Schwarzl’s wish list is extensive: “We want a team that is suitable for the Bundesliga. We want to see an attractive football. We want to offer a platform for young talents who give us the opportunity to generate transfer revenues. We want to consolidate our economy. We want to be interesting for ours again.” Become a sponsor. “
And these are only the “short-term measures”. Because half a year after relegation, the SKN is already dreaming of a lot more. “We want to become a real player in the Bundesliga in the long term,” says Neo managing director Gebauer.
The 30-year-old Tyrolean has completed a law degree, was CEO of several companies and most recently U15 trainer of the SKN. Schwarzl reports: “We saw a person who stands in front of us as a young, dynamic manager with a good education. He is a doer type with a good entrepreneurial spirit.” Communication and empathy are Gebauer’s strengths.
This will initially focus on three pillars:
Internal processes – “We want to create structures like I imagine, it often happens that a certain operational blindness creeps in,” he says. The collaboration with the other departments should be “filled with life”. Because: “The women’s team is a giant in Europe. Our basketball players are also right at the forefront. Our Special Needs Team does an excellent job.”
Strategic partners and sponsors – “There is a certain dissatisfaction, there have been a few failures in the last few months and years. It is important to me to rebuild trust. We have to improve communication,” Gebauer recognized. The “unbelievable potential in St. Pölten” should be tapped.
The fans – “That is very important to me, without our fans, football is no longer relevant. We want to be closer to St. Pölten and Lower Austria. We have not been in the city in recent years, so we have lost proximity, “says Gebauer.
The Tyrolean shares his office with a German. Jan Schlaudraff is the new GF Sport of the Lower Austrians. The 38-year-old, who has kicked at FC Bayern and Gladbach, was most recently the sports director at Hannover 96.
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Schwarzl justified the decision for him as follows: “With everything that was negative, the success of the cooperation with VfL Wolfsburg was a historically important event for the club. The cooperation must be filled with life. One person in sport, one Having a direct line to Wolfsburg is a huge advantage. It was important to us to have an expert who can look back on his own experience. He is an upright character who fits very well into our team. “
But the German immediately tried to emancipate himself from VfL Wolfsburg: “It is important to emphasize that we make our decisions independently of Wolfsburg. Nevertheless, we want to try to fill the cooperation with more life than we have in recent months have done.”
He credibly assures that there are no plans to bring further loan players from Wolfsburg in winter.
Schlaudraff’s pillars:
Transfer time – The squad should be strengthened. We are looking for a man for midfield control, a center forward who can also play on the wing, and a left foot for central defense. “But we’re not going to do wild things, it has to be sporty and economical,” he assures.
Consistent philosophy – What follows now sounds very much like RB Salzburg. “We want to bring a certain philosophy into the club. We want to play actively, press hard, keep the intensity high. We want to establish that throughout the club. We want to anchor this concept independently of the people in the club. We want to set certain guidelines, to which everyone adheres, “says Schlaudraff.
Cooperation with the academy – The topic boils up again and again in St. Pölten. “The fact is that the academy does not belong to us and we are currently not in a position to be able to afford it,” clarifies the German. However, communication with the talent factory operated by the regional association is being worked on.
The SKN St. Pölten is “a training club”, says the new head of sport. There are plenty of examples showing that training clubs can also succeed in the Bundesliga – or even become series champions.
Nobody in the new management team wants to be pinned down when the “wolves” will go up again. Gebauer says: “We don’t want to set a fixed deadline for when the promotion has to be. We want to prepare the club for day X. We want to become a real player in the Bundesliga in the long term.”
It’s a long way to get there. Schlaudraff and Gebauer tackle it with great motivation. Gebauer announced: “We will prove in the next few months that it was a good decision to get involved. We will prove that there is a turnaround, a breath of fresh air.”
Text: © LAOLA1.at
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