The defeat in the basement duel against FSV Zwickau was too much: Hallesche FC reacted on Tuesday with the immediate suspension of head coach André Meyer. For the time being, Jens Kiefer, head of the youth academy, will take over and prepare the team for the upcoming game against Dynamo Dresden.
Third division soccer team Hallescher FC reacted to the sporting crisis and three days later the 0:2 defeat against FSV Zwickau Coach André Meyer relieved of his duties. The club announced this on Tuesday (01/31/2023).
“The table doesn’t lie. Despite all the appreciation for André Meyer’s great commitment, the development in recent months and the performance of the team in the disappointing home defeat against FSV Zwickau have led to us on the board and board of directors unanimously in favor of a separation have expressed”, explained HFC board member Dr. Jürgen Fox in a press release. “So we’ve come to the conclusion that we have to give a new impetus to the coaching position.”
Kiefer takes over on an interim basis
For the time being, junior manager Jens Kiefer will assume responsibility for the first team together with assistant coach Max Bergmann and goalkeeping coach Marian Unger. The trio will also prepare the team for the forthcoming away game at Dynamo Dresden on Saturday (2 p.m. live on MDR TV). At the same time, the search for a new head coach is in full swing.
The 0:2 against Zwickau was the previous negative point at HFC. “A shitty moment,” Meyer said after the defeat. It was the eleventh bankruptcy of the season. At this point in the season, HFC has never been worse in the 3rd division. 17 points after 20 games are poor and there is no sign of an upward trend. The red-whites are all too often frighteningly harmless offensively and extremely vulnerable defensively. The team often only thaws in the final phase, and by then it is usually too late.
Lots of unrest throughout the club
Just like on Saturday against Zwickau. The West Saxons saved their coach Joe Enochs’ job with the three, fought passionately and showed the reaction the board wanted to see. A similar announcement could not be heard from the HFC. The club is probably too busy with other construction sites. The calm is missing. And so not only the sporting performance is worrying, there is also unrest in the environment.
President Jens Rauschenbach announced his retirement at the end of the season a few weeks ago. He named personal reasons, both professional and family. He also spoke of different opinions within the club as to which direction it should go in the future. It’s also the end of March Sports director Ralf Minge away. There had been a crunch between him and the club for a long time, and at the beginning of the year both sides agreed to terminate the contract early.
Meyer has to go after a year
The 39-year-old Meyer has been head coach at HFC since the end of December 2021. At that time he had given up coaching at the regional league club Berliner AK. On the penultimate day of last season he managed to stay up with Halle. Under him and sports director Minge, a major upheaval took place in the summer – 17 players left. “Young, wild and capable of development” was the motto from then on. However, the results did not come. In 37 games as head coach of the Saalestadt team, Meyer, whose brother Daniel had only recently been released as U19 coach from RB Leipzig, only scored 1.03 points on average. In the last five games, only one point jumped out.
Halle was already Meyer’s ninth club. He started his coaching career in 2001 as a youth coach at FC Strausberg. In 2006 he changed to 1. FC Köln as a junior coach. Hertha, Augsburg and Union Berlin followed. Meyer took on his first coaching job in the men’s division in the summer of 2018 at the then Oberliga club Union Fürstenwalde. After an interlude at Erzgebirge Aue, he ended up in Halle via the BAK.
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