"Shall we give up?": Stevens is no good as Schalke's savior

Sunday 20th December 2020

"Should we give up then?"
Stevens is no good as Schalke's savior

Not even the coach of the century can help FC Schalke achieve success – and Huub Stevens' comeback will only last a short time. An almost impossible task awaits the successor. And not really feel much hope anymore.

Bitter experience instead of a successful comeback. This time Huub Stevens was denied an entry in the history books of his heart club. Even the soccer teacher, who was revered as the "coach of the century" at Schalke, could not dispel the trauma without victory. Even under the direction of the 67-year-old, who was reactivated the day before as the successor to Manuel Baum, the team appeared like a relegated team in the 0: 1 (0: 0) against Bielefeld. Despite the terrible record with the last 29 games without success, Stevens refused to surrender: "Should we give up? The last thing is to give up. We'll keep fighting and hope for a bit of luck."

But most observers now lack the imagination as to how the Revierklub still wants to avert relegation with a yield of only four points from 13 games. None of the four teams in the league history with a similarly bad record at this point in the season managed to stay in the class. In addition, Tasmania Berlin's historic record from the 1965/66 season with 31 games without a win is only two Bundesliga games away. Stevens hopes that the Revierklub will be spared the shame of surpassing this record: "The day will come again when we win. Believe me."

Should a Bundesliga win actually succeed again, this should not be credited to Stevens. Stevens answered questions about a possible extension of his engagement in his own way – with the message between the lines: "Let yourself be surprised. But I would like to be at home in peace for Christmas. Even on New Year's Eve." Next Tuesday, Stevens is in the cup game against the Regional league team SSV Ulm one more time on the Schalker Bank, then the mission is over.

The club's management will then provide information on the succession plan. Jochen Schneider already has a concrete successor in mind. "Yes," replied the sports director to a question on Sky before the game against Bielefeld. He did not name names, however: "Let's see, we'll announce that when the time comes." According to reports, it could amount to Friedhelm Funkel. The former Düsseldorf coach is only a few days younger than Stevens, but should fit into the requirement profile.

A seasoned coach who has a lot of experience in relegation battle and is considered a person of respect even for teams that are difficult to coach would certainly be helpful. Other candidates are Alexander Zorniger and Dimitrios Grammozis. The Baum / Stevens successor faces an almost impossible task. He should have realized that when looking at the game against Bielefeld.

There was a lot of running and fighting, but only rarely combined skillfully. In addition, the defensive behavior when Bielefeld's attacker Fabian Klos (53rd minute) hit a header was unworthy of a first division club. Nevertheless, licensed player boss Sascha Riether also took refuge in perseverance: "At the moment nobody believes anything. But anything is always possible in football. Now we have to draw the right conclusions and will then take on the relegation battle with courage and strength."

After all, there is a little break after the cup game to come to your senses. "It's a catastrophic year. It is incredibly bitter what happened. We are all dragging the unsuccessfulness around with us," complained sports director Schneider. Hope for a more successful 2021 is fading.