Is Tuchel now following suit?
Trainer has to leave and dismantles the entire cabin
February 21, 2024, 5:31 p.m
Niko Laukötter is a man of principles and pride, it seems. The coach of a North Rhine-Westphalia A-League team has to leave at the end of the season, the club has informed him. But Laukötter prefers to leave immediately – and ensures that the cabin is demolished.
No, Niko Laukötter didn’t want to let his replacement come to an end at the end of the season. And the second team of 1. FC Bocholt, which he has coached since 2019, didn’t just accept this either. The consequences: a strike by the players, a game lost without a fight – and a team locker room that Laukötter simply dismantled after his immediate resignation.
First things first: Last Saturday, Laukötter was informed by the club that a new coach would be coming for the new season. Laukötter refused and resigned immediately. The team showed solidarity with him: They did not play in the game in the district league A Rees-Bocholt in the afternoon against SV Brünen; the match between the promotion and relegation candidates was scored 0-2.
Niko Laukötter (right) didn’t lose the cabin – but took it with him.
(Photo: IMAGO/Klumpen Sportfoto)
And Laukötter went one better: During the Corona pandemic, he spruced up the second team’s locker room on his own, with personalized lockers and lockers for the players, and he also installed a relaxation pool and disco lighting. Everything looked very professional – now out of frustration he dismantled it again, even the floor was removed, like a photo in the “Bocholter-Borkener Volksblatt” shows. Normally it is a problem for the coach when it is rumored that he has lost the locker room. In Bocholt it’s the other way around: the trainer has to leave and simply takes the entire cabin with him.
Changing room “oversized anyway”
Curious: A few days after Laukötter, a prominent colleague was put in the same situation. In the morning, FC Bayern Munich announced that they would be parting ways with world coach Thomas Tuchel. At the end of the season. And people on Säbener Strasse will now be watching closely to see whether Tuchel will appear on the training ground with a sledgehammer in the future.
The unpleasant surprise wasn’t a problem for the club, says technical director Manuel Jara – and in an interview with the “Bocholter-Borkener Volksblatt” he called the changing room “oversized anyway” for the district league A and added: “You can still move in it.” Incidentally, Laukötter worked for the club in various positions for a total of 15 years, whose first representative team plays in the fourth-tier Regionalliga West.