45 days after being kicked out at VfL Bochum, coach Thomas Reis has a new job. 20 kilometers away from his ex-employer he takes on the mammoth task of FC Schalke 04. The traditional Gelsenkirchen club is fighting to stay up in the league under adverse conditions.
During the first training session in the shadow of the Schalke Arena, Thomas Reis tried to be in a good mood. The new coach of the royal blues gathered his team several times to address them, he often laughed. The 49-year-old knows: The task he has embarked on is currently the most difficult in German professional football - and it begins in the minds of his players. "Of course you also read that people keep saying you're not suitable for the Bundesliga," explained Reis when he was introduced to neighbors Schalke 04 45 days after being kicked out at VfL Bochum. "It's up to everyone," Reis emphasized, "to prove the opposite."
The situation with the promoted team, who fell to last place after five Bundesliga bankruptcies in a row, is "not easy," said Reis, euphemistically describing the precarious situation of the former Champions League regular. Before his debut on Sunday (5:30 p.m. on DAZN and in the live ticker on ntv.de) against SC Freiburg, it is far more threatening than in Bochum a year ago, when the promotion hero surprisingly confidently relegated VfL to the “second miracle” after a bumpy start to the season led.
After eleven match days, Bochum was in twelfth place with four wins and 13 points - tendency and mood positive to euphoric. Schalke, where "everything is more than a number bigger", has a win, of all things against Reis, and six points - the tendency and mood are falling sharply to panic. "At the moment you're bottom of the table, but it's in our own hands to make sure it gets better," said Reis, who now needs his "third miracle", which he didn't succeed in Bochum, at Schalke.
But what does he have in his hand at his new employer? A team that has major weaknesses - from goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow (on loan from Hertha BSC), who almost regularly fails, to defensive boss Maya Yoshida, who is completely overwhelmed by the Bundesliga tempo, to the prevented goalscorers Simon Terodde and Sebastian Polter. The 31-year-old and Reis know each other very well. An advantage? Polter was an integral part of the Bochum relegation workers. With his galling and physical game, he was the first pressing station to unnerve numerous opponents. He also misses fast wingers like in Bochum.
The new coach did not want to reveal where he would like to add personnel. He knows what it's like to have to make do with little money from VfL, whose budget is even smaller than that of Schalke, who have returned to the Bundesliga. After the sudden resignation of his former Bochum teammate Rouven Schröder, he still has to learn how to arrange winter transfers without a sports director.
First of all, it is important not to fall too far behind in the fight against relegation until the World Cup break. - a difficult undertaking against opponents such as Freiburg, Bremen, Mainz and Bayern Munich. The most important thing at the beginning is "to take the team with you immediately so that they follow you - otherwise you don't stand a chance," says Reis.
Born in Baden but based in the Ruhr area since 1995 after a break of several years, you can see how happy he is about his job just 20 kilometers from his adopted home. "I'm glad I can finally get out again," he said. For the fact that VfL released him for Schalke after the leave of absence in September, unlike the first inquiries in the summer, he even participated in the transfer fee of allegedly 300,000 euros.
