With the 2: 2 against Lucerne on Saturday, the situation at the Grasshoppers does not calm down. It’s rumbling behind the scenes. After all, the president of Sky Sun is finally back in Zurich.
Again not won. Consternation after the Grasshoppers’ 2-2 win in the home game against FC Luzern.
Sometimes it’s statistics that impressively document a predicament. GC lost twenty points this season after a lead, on Saturday evening in the 2-2 win against FC Luzern it was two after a 2-0 lead. The Grasshoppers are still waiting for their first home win since October 2nd; since then there have been five draws and five defeats at home. And only three points resulted from the last eight matches.
These are all indicators of a relegation. After all, GC’s lead over the strengthened teams Lucerne and Lausanne seven rounds before the end of the season remains five and twelve points respectively. “We are disappointed because Lucerne equalized in the 90th minute,” said GC coach Giorgio Contini after the 2-2 draw against FCL. “But we’ve presented ourselves better lately.”
GC – Luzern on Saturday: Captain Arigoni made it 1-0 in the 13th minute.
In the preliminary round, the Grasshopper Club had played above their means, for weeks they were in 5th place, the relegation zone was far away. When looking at all the squads, however, only Lausanne can be classified as weaker, and staying in the league may be the only logical goal for the ambitious climber.
However, in order to be able to even come close to fulfilling the euphoric five- and ten-year plans of Chinese investors, a number of things have to change at GC – a title is to be won by 2026, and the company wants to play a good role internationally by 2031. However, if the club does not adapt its 2022 strategy to the conditions in Switzerland, it will not rest.
The head of sports is not available
GC continues to walk on thin ice. In the industry you hear a lot of negative things about the development in the club, there is a lack of a stringent strategy and clear communication, credibility and leadership. Last week, well-informed sources even said that Giorgio Contini could be fired if he lost to Lucerne.
The coach is the face of the club. Contini works purposefully as far as possible, he doesn’t let the chaotic conditions show and never says a bad word in public about the lack of support. The Managing Director Shqiprim Berisha even says that Contini gets the maximum out of its resources and guarantees stability in the sporting area.
Berisha is the only person in charge at GC who is accessible to the media. The owner Jenny Wang is not even sure if she even knows that the Grasshoppers are in her possession. Its governor, GC President Sky Sun, only returned to Switzerland on Saturday after another month-long stay in China; he was in the stadium for the game against Lucerne.
Sports director Seyi Olofinjana, on the other hand, is not noticeable at all. He doesn’t know the Swiss market and mostly does what his superiors in China or from partner club Wolverhampton tell him to do. According to insiders, the former talent manager Wolverhamptons maintains an idiosyncratic management style, which is why several key employees have left the GC campus in recent months. Someone close to the club says the situation with Olofinjana is like a Swiss unexpectedly becoming head of sport at a Chinese club and only knowing the English player market.
Difficult situation with Sène
Many of the Grasshoppers’ problems are self-inflicted. After a successful preliminary round, the top performers Hayao Kawabe and Toti Gomes were assigned to Wolverhampton. Kawabe later returned to GC, while Gomes stayed in England and has made just two second-team appearances since early February.
The Grasshoppers brought in 2022 footballers from China, Japan, South Korea, Portugal, France and Ukraine. All of this makes working together in an already multicultural team enormously difficult. The Grasshoppers still lack identity, even in the key game on Saturday against Lucerne there were only around 5,000 spectators in the Letzigrund.
GC have still not managed to negotiate a contract with Kaly Sène on loan. This follow-up agreement should have been concluded before this season. For around 1.5 million francs, GC can take over the talented striker from FC Basel by the end of May. In order to bind Sène to the club, however, the salary structure would have to be blown up. GC cannot compete with wage offers from foreign clubs. It’s just one of many construction sites at the Grasshoppers.