Thomas Reis is back on the coaching bench 45 days after his leave of absence from VfL Bochum. He is supposed to save Bundesliga club FC Schalke 04 from relegation. The 49-year-old takes on a suicide mission and has to solve numerous difficult squad problems.
Football is just a terribly thankless business. The story about coach Thomas Reis is the most recent proof of this. In late summer they were ready for all crimes with the 49-year-old in Bochum. You would have been - you never know, of course, because football is just a terribly thankless business - even been willing to be relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga with your hero coach. The Freiburg way, that was the goal. So keep a coach, against all (sporting) resistance. But just a few weeks later, the dream of eternal rice had already burst. The 49-year-old stumbled across a story full of contradictions about contract talks in Bochum and not admitted contacts with regional rivals FC Schalke 04 - whose coach he is now.
In Bochum, this opens up a wound that seemed to have finally healed last matchday. The bottom of the table (now 17th) had eaten up leaders Union Berlin. The stadium "anne Castroper" raged and all reservations about Reis' successor Thomas Letsch were sung away in a frenzy of emotion. Incidentally, there is an exciting parallel to Reis taking office at VfL in September 2019. At that time he had replaced Robin Dutt and in Bochum people were skeptical about the decision of the then managing director Sebastian Schindzielorz. The situation is different at Schalke. After the resounding failure of Frank Kramer and other wild experiments with Christian Groß and Manuel Baum, the longing for a messiah on the bench is great.
Rice should be this one. In his almost three years at VfL he received a lot of admiration. Especially last season, when he spectacularly kept Bochum in the league as a promoted team. With passionate, courageous and fast football. Will he repeat that at Schalke? Reis will have to adapt his game idea. Although he has his first and disgusting (in a positive sense) runner in Sebastian Polter (he came from VfL in the summer), the squad doesn't give much else to adapt the plan for success. Above all, the pace is missing. Other issues he needs to solve: is he really backing Polter and if so is he edging out Simon Terodde? Who plays in goal? The fans are longing for a change after Alexander Schwolow's mistakes. And who defends in the officially battered center?
Reis was able to pursue these questions immediately after his official presentation on Thursday morning, because he then led the morning session. His first game, however, could hardly be more difficult. SC Freiburg is coming to the Gelsenkirchen Arena on Sunday. What matters? First of all, he wants to make footballers believe in strength. "Of course, the players get that too, when they keep saying they're not suitable for the Bundesliga. It's up to the players to prove the opposite." It's no problem that he takes over a completely insecure team with six competitive defeats in a row. "Courage is one of my values. I can assess the risk well. It also makes the task interesting."
Interesting, to put it more flowery, was the situation at Schalke even before Reis signed. Sports director Rouven Schröder withdrew completely surprised on Wednesday. Because of private reasons. There was a lot of speculation in the media about what could be behind it. Schröder is said to have made the search for a coach and the headwind for his choice just as tiring as the tight financial framework, which hardly allows Schalke to build a squad suitable for the Bundesliga or to finance reinforcements.
Sports director Peter Knäbel indicated, however, that there were also very personal reasons for Schröder's sudden departure, against which one was powerless. When he spoke about the retired sports director, he almost sounded like he was at a funeral: "He's missing and will be missing in our heads for a long time. Everyone knows the feeling of loss. Pain, disappointment, fear and the eternal question: why ?" It's about "respecting people and their decisions," said Knäbel, adding in an irritating way: "Hello Rouven, I'm sure you're watching."
According to reports, the players reacted with surprise to the Schröder exit, to put it mildly. Even Reis has no reference person in the form of his former teammate as a professional at his side, especially at the beginning of his delicate mission. "Of course I was informed," Reis said of Schröder's departure. But that was no reason not to come. "I'm greedy for success and greedy for this club," said Reis, who apparently even paid part of his transfer fee of around 300,000 euros to VfL Bochum, according to media reports. Hardly any coach has made such an effort as Reis to come to Schalke. "Also as far as the financial participation in the termination agreement is concerned," reveals Knäbel meaningfully.
The sentences from Reis ("greedy for the club") should meanwhile really trigger the Bochum fan soul again. After all, the 49-year-old also threw out similar declarations of love for "anne Castroper": "If I'm not from Bochum, who is?" Well, then who? Forget. Past. The present counts for Reis: "I don't have to move. I feel very comfortable in the Ruhr area and have proven that I fit into the Ruhr area." He "doesn't care that he's presented as plan B, C or D - I'm sitting here and nobody else". Football is just a terribly thankless business. And sometimes a hypocritical one.
