PIONEER FOTHERINGHAM AWAITS NEW CHALLENGE AFTER GERMAN LESSONS
MARK FOTHERINGHAM has always been an early starter. Celtic’s youngest-ever player when he made his debut aged 16 in 2000 — a record he ceded to Jack Aitchison just last year — Fotheringham also beat an early trail into the world of coaching.
After his Livingston deal expired last summer, he took up the assistant manager’s job at Bundesliga 2 side Karlsruher at just 32. But Fotheringham’s connection to Germany stretches back more than a decade to the day he left Dundee for Freiburg.
His season in Germany from 2005-06 gave him a grounding in the local language, an asset when he came under the wing of Felix Magath and his assistant Tomas Oral at Fulham in 2014.
Oral took a shine to Fotheringham and lured the Dundonian to Karlsruher when he was appointed manager at the start of last season.
But the adventure did not last long.
‘It came to an end in December,’ reflected Fotheringham. ‘At the start of the season we were favourites to get promoted to the Bundesliga, but we had too many draws.
‘Our sporting director, Jens Todt, went to Hamburg and was replaced by Oliver Kreuzer, the former Bayern Munich player.
‘Tomas Oral is not such a big name and Kreuzer had already been working in the background to bring in a big name.
‘Mirko Slomka came in, had a worse record than us and got them relegated.
‘They are all raving about the job we did now, but it’s too late.’
The experience may have bruised Fotheringham’s ego but he is a quick healer. Currently engaged in the process of obtaining his UEFA A coaching licence, he is biding his time before making his next move.
‘It’s tough as it’s the first time in my career when I haven’t been playing or coaching,’ he admitted. ‘But when you’re thinking about moving into management you have to prepare yourself and that is what I’m doing now.
‘I’m not really thinking about putting down roots at the moment. I’ve got an advantage over a lot of guys who are doing their badges just now because of all the managers I’ve worked for and the different countries and cultures I’ve experienced.
‘I feel that when I get my job as a No 1 I’m going to have a lot of aces up my sleeve.
‘At the end of the day, I’m a guy from a housing scheme in Dundee. I can speak fluent German, I’ve sat with guys who are very important people in German football.
‘Why am I there? Everything happens for a reason, so I think I’ve been meant to go to these places.
‘I’ve enjoyed taking the risk. I could quite easily have stayed at home, started low down and worked my way up, but I wanted to go and test myself against the best.
‘It’s been a fantastic experience. At Karlsruher we got 32,000 fans at home against Stuttgart, we were playing clubs like Nuremberg, Hannover, Fortuna Dusseldorf and 1860 Munich. We were working on a big budget with international players and improved young players physically and tactically, but as soon as Jens Todt left the writing was on the wall.
‘It’s hard to believe they’re in the third tier. They are a big club.’
Aside from his year in Germany, Fotheringham also played for FC Aarau in Switzerland and in Cyprus for Anorthosis Famagusta.
He arguably played the best football of his career during a two-year stint at Norwich City.
But his playing days are over and, going forward, Fotheringham is happy to shadow Oral for now.
‘I’m not ready for a No 1 job at a big club,’ he added. ‘I want to go and get more experience from Tomas. There might be an opportunity to go to China with Felix Magath, who knows?
‘Markus Babbel says if he ever goes to England he would want me as part of his staff.’