1. FC Köln is fighting against relegation from the Bundesliga this season. Will Steffen Baumgart get the chance to turn things around on the Rhine? Managing director Christian Keller has now avoided making a clear commitment to the Effzeh coach after the next defeat.
“Please understand that I don’t want to answer about the mechanisms of the system,” said the Cologne club boss Christian Keller in a media round when asked whether there might be internal discussions in the background about a change to the team in view of the upcoming winter break There is a coaching bench. Just a few weeks ago, Keller gave his coach a good interim report.
After the 2-0 defeat at SC Freiburg last Sunday, the ninth of the current season, 1. FC Köln are in the relegation zone with just ten points. Only Mainz 05 and SV Darmstadt are in an even worse position, each with one point less.
In view of the away defeat in Breisgau, Keller made it clear: “It hurts today. We have ten points from 15 games. That’s simply not enough.”
Keller demands: Cologne must definitely score points against Union Berlin
One thing is clear: If the next disappointment follows from the Domstadt residents’ point of view with their neighbors Union Berlin, who have the same points in the table, on Wednesday (6:30 p.m.), there is a risk of extremely uncomfortable Christmas days at Geißbockheim, even though, according to Keller, “the hops and malt will not be lost”: “So the question is: Do we have a mini-cushion on them after the game or do they have a mini-cushion on us?”
In addition to the current sporting crisis, there was recently a public dispute between managing director Keller and coach Baumgart about the club’s transfer strategy. “It shouldn’t be the case that we give away our best players. If there is no money, we have to get some,” Baumgart recently demanded.
According to “Sport Bild”, sports director Keller was said to have taken these statements as anything but positive. According to the sports paper, the relationship between head coach and managing director is feared to be explosive.