Numerous names have been covered in the Cologne media in the last few days, but Timo Schultz’s name was not there. The coaching surprise from the north is 100 percent convinced that Cologne will stay in the league.
Timo Schultz is the new guy in Cologne. He is the successor to Steffen Baumgart, but as he says himself, “not Baumgart 2.0”. Schultz is a true East Frisian and comes from Esens, Wittmund district. “Schulle is North German harsh,” his long-time friend and teammate Florian Lechner once told NDR.
“As a footballer, not a high flyer”
Schultz is a completely different guy than Baumgart. He is less polarizing, but like Baumgart, he can identify with his club and inspire players, fans and the entire environment. “Even as a player, he carried his teammates along,” said former professional and later journalist Rolf-Peter Rosenfeld in an interview with NDR: “He was certainly not a high-flyer as a footballer, but he got the most out of himself.”
In order to stay in class, Schultz has to get everything out of FC. “I am convinced that we can turn the situation around, no matter how unpleasant it is right now.”
Many years in the NLZ of St. Pauli
In a fragile environment, Schultz’s social skills are particularly important. Schultz certainly has a reputation as a “man-catcher” from his time at FC St. Pauli, and on Thursday he came close. The East Frisian talked a lot with the professionals during the first training session, explained, laughed and cheered. “Everyone is on fire, everyone is excited. That’s the most important thing for me,” he said after the session. “Listen to understand,” is how Schultz once described his leadership style in an interview with NDR. “
Schultz has worked with youth players for a large part of his coaching career to date. From 2015 to 2018 he coached St. Pauli’s U17s, then the U19s for two years before being appointed head coach. “I come from the youth performance center, I like working with young players. The door is open, maybe it’s even wider here than elsewhere, but the players have to go through it alone,” said Schultz at the press conference on Thursday.
Youth players play an important role
These days, FC is more dependent on its own youth players than ever before. Cologne has to turn things around without new talent. Cologne is not allowed to sign any new players this winter or next summer – the ban from the world association FIFA due to a transfer offense has been official since shortly before Christmas.
The successful integration of young players is therefore a declared task for the newcomer. And here at least the timing could be worse: Last season, Cologne’s U19 team won the DFB Cup and made it to the semi-finals of the German championship – numerous players from this year are now auditioning for the professionals.
This also includes Justin Diehl. The great coach of hope has been training with the professionals since the start of training. Diehl was demoted to the U21 by Baumgart in the summer because he had not clearly committed to FC. And talents like Max Finkgräwe, Damian Downs, Elias Bakatukanda and Meiko Waschenbach also need to take advantage of the open door and step onto the big Bundesliga stage in the second half of the season.
17 years in St. Pauli
With Schultz he has 1. FC Cologne hired a coach who is definitely made to develop players and shape an era. The 46-year-old was a player and coach at FC St. Pauli for 17 years, playing under Holger Stanislawski, who coached FC almost ten years ago. His involvement with FC Basel only lasted a few months last summer and he was released in September.
“If you have a North German as a friend, you have a friend for life, it’s not like the Rhineland mentality, for example, which is a bit more superficial,” said Florian Lechner a few years ago.
The question remains whether 1. FC Köln and Timo Schultz will become friends given this complicated situation, or whether things will turn out like they did in Basel. Either way, it will be a friendship with obstacles.
