Many fans even hoped for Lucien Favre on the podium at Borussia Mönchengladbach’s general meeting. Instead, sports director Roland Virkus announced his cancellation. Max Eberl’s successor is now under a lot of pressure.
The eagerly awaited happy news did not come. Even worse. Sports director Robert Virkus destroyed the spirit of optimism that had prevailed around Borussia Mönchengladbach for a few days with an honest answer. “I don’t think Lucien Favre will be a coach at Borussia Mönchengladbach for the next two years,” Virkus announced on Monday evening, to the horror of the around 1,800 members present at the club’s annual general meeting.
The man, who after his work between 2011 and 2015 is still admired in Gladbach more than almost any other coach since Hennes Weisweiler, was actually chosen to lead Borussia back into the top flight of the Bundesliga after a difficult year and a half. According to media reports, Favre’s return already seemed perfect. But after several concrete talks, the Swiss, known as a procrastinator, finally canceled.
“You can be sure that we have done everything for it. But he told us that he has the diamond in his heart but doesn’t want to work in Germany again,” Virkus said, causing unease among fans and members. As the successor to Max Eberl, who suddenly left the faltering, long-standing top club at the beginning of the year, he had long struggled with concrete statements about the future in his first sporting balance sheet.
Where those present had expected concrete measures to improve sport, the 55-year-old spoke about reducing the workforce. “We have far too long decision-making paths. We want to clean that up for the new season,” announced Virkus. His core statement about personal details, on the other hand, was: “I can’t tell you more about it.”
Favre’s return campaign should actually be a liberation for Virkus, who is under pressure after “a very tough four months”. The search for a trainer continues – and while the competition is chugging on the transfer market, there is no news about departures or additions to Borussia. The necessity of restructuring the squad has been propagated for over a year.
According to Virkus, the “little squad movement” is also one of the reasons for the tenth place in the team, which is the worst sporting result since 2010/2011. Even now things are stagnating again because no player who is willing to change has found a new club so far and Borussia has received high income as a result. “First we have to see who is leaving us,” confirmed Virkus again. Almost four weeks before the start of training with whatever coach, not much fits in Gladbach.
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