Schalke: Former coach Frank Kramer with strong criticism of the club’s management

“Trying to save their skin”

Schalke’s former coach Frank Kramer criticized the second division club’s management in clear words. “There is a lack of competence in day-to-day business as well as in medium and long-term strategy, otherwise the club would not always turn left and right,” said the 51-year-old in an interview with “Kicker“. “And if sports directors and coaches are constantly changing, that doesn’t reflect well on the top decision-makers in the club. When coaches and players are pilloried during periods of poor sportsmanship, you have to question who chose them.”

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First division relegated Schalke is in the relegation relegation spot after eight games. The Revierklub parted ways with coach Thomas Reis last week. “My first reaction was to shake my head,” says Kramer. “The timing two days before the league game in Paderborn and shortly before the international break was surprising.” The fact that eleven head coaches and three interim solutions have been on the sidelines in the last ten years does not speak for the S04 management “if they bring in different coaches and then quickly believes that you have to exchange them. (…) Six weeks ago Thomas Reis was the best coach for this club, now he is the wrong one after the sporting leadership went into hiding for six weeks when things weren’t going well,” said Kramer.

Under interim coach Matthias Kreutzer, the Royal Blues lost 3-1 at SC Paderborn last Friday. Sports director Peter Knäbel then described the team’s performance as “despondent” and “naive”. Kramer was particularly critical of the 57-year-old: “Peter Knäbel is talking the team to pieces in a populist manner. Apparently the sporting leadership chose the wrong players. Or they don’t manage to create a performance-enhancing environment for the players and form a cohesive unit. A sports director must face this responsibility. It’s not compatible to speak highly of the players when signing them and then judge them like that.”

Kramer was also unable to understand Knäbel’s justification for firing Reis, that the situation was “stuck in terms of sport and content”. “He passes the buck very much to the team, but he has to create a unit that demonstrates the necessary unity. When I heard these words from Knäbel, I asked myself: What did the board do about it? How did he support the coach? How did the person in charge of sports take countermeasures? In such delicate situations, there must be complete unity, from every employee in the office to the team and the management.”

Former coach Kramer: There is “too much populism in play” at Schalke

Schalke is “a fascinating, big club with fantastic fans and great charisma,” emphasized Kramer. “But there is too much populism at play there. The supervisory board and board try to serve the desires of members and fans. (…) The status quo, the finances and the manageable sporting starting position do not allow for rosy prospects and make (…) goals pure wishful thinking.” The S04 management had stuck to very ambitious plans after being relegated from the Bundesliga again. Knäbel stated the “top 6 in the Bundesliga” and a “squad value of 200 million euros” as his long-term goal.

“If you’re honest: Schalke is miles away from being able to compete with the top six in the Bundesliga,” said Kramer. “They are unnecessarily increasing the pressure on people in day-to-day sporting activities, coaching staff and players.” Kramer himself took over Schalke as coach in the summer of 2022. After a weak start to the season, the club parted ways with him last October and brought in Reis.

“I consider it a privilege to have worked for S04,” emphasized Kramer, who also admitted that he “misjudged things.” “I take full sporting responsibility for ten games, the result of six points of which was not what I expected.” Of course, he and his successor Reis “also made mistakes and made wrong decisions. But were we fundamentally the wrong people? We both played our part in staying in the league with smaller Bundesliga clubs in Bochum and Bielefeld and thus had an extraordinary success. Why wasn’t that possible at Schalke? Perhaps the expectations were too high for the existing possibilities? Did we have enough time, trust and support from leadership?”

It takes time for something to grow together. “But you don’t get that time at Schalke, it’s always the same thing: the management as the highest authority in the club remains, the people in day-to-day business, coaches and players, are replaced,” said Kramer. His conclusion about Schalke: “Too many people there are trying to save their own skin when the club is stuck in failure.”

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