Bremen fire their coach after poor start
BERLIN: Memories of the glory days are fading with every passing year for Werder Bremen and SV Hamburg.
The two northern German football giants have won 10 league titles and nine German Cups between them. Both have European silverware in their cabinets.
Yet the last few seasons have shown little indication more trophies will be coming any time soon.
Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Borussia Moenchengladbach spelled the end for Bremen coach Viktor Skripinik, who left the club with his coaching team after the team returned to the Weser Stadium early yesterday.
Bremen have begun with three league defeats, conceding 12 goals in the process, and crashed out of the German Cup to third-division Sportfreunde Lotte.
At first it seemed 46-yearold Ukrainian Skripnik would keep his job. Bremen are seen as a club that likes to do things differently and not act hastily in times of trouble. But the days when a coach such as Thomas Schaaf could serve for 14 years have gone: Skripnik is now the third to lose his job at Werder since Schaaf left in May 2013.
Skripnik was a skilful midfielder who helped Bremen win the league and cup double in the 2003-2004 season, their last league title. He played alongside both current sports director Frank Baumann and supervisory board chief Marco Bode. Yet camaraderie in football counts for little when survival is at stake.
That could also apply soon for Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia, a former player at Bremen’s northern neighbours, who also played alongside board chairman, Dietmar Beiersdorfer.
Hamburg have just one point in their first three games, and on Saturday were trounced 4-0 at home by promoted RB Leipzig.
Like Bremen, Hamburg have been flirting in recent years with relegation danger, although last season they managed a respectable midtable finish under Labbadia. They have never been relegated, but the last of their six league titles though goes back to 1983, the year they also won the European Cup.
Labbadia, 50, knows Skripnik’s fate all too well, for he was in exactly the same position three years ago. After Hamburg had lost the opening three Bundesliga matches of the 2013-14 season, he was relieved of his duties with immediate effect.
Labbadia then returned to Hamburg for a second spell in April last year, when he managed to steer the club clear of relegation via the play-off. Hamburg have had 15 coaching changes in the last 10 years, and Beiersdorfer will be loath to be hiring and firing again for both financial and continuity reasons.
The many management and squad fluctuations have neither helped Hamburg balance the books nor brought sporting success.
A trip to Freiburg tomorrow and a home game Saturday against champions Bayern Munich will make it a crucial week for all. – dpa