Bielefeld (AP) – Six defeats in the past seven games were too much for Frank Kramer at Arminia Bielefeld. East Westphalia took action four games before the end of the season.
Remaining in the Bundesliga should now be managed with a new team of coaches, without the 49-year-old, who was obviously no longer believed to be able to save him. “We want to give the team an impetus to stay in the Bundesliga. That is the goal of all of us. It is important to look forward now and not back. Everyone involved is required,” explained Bielefeld’s sporting director Samir Arabi.
The new team has already led the first training session
The previous goalkeeping coach Marco Kostmann is primarily responsible for the job. He is assisted by 64-year-old Michael Henke, Ottmar Hitzfeld’s long-time assistant coach at Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich. Kramer still has a contract until June 30, 2023. The previous assistants Stefan Kleineheismann and Sebastian Hille will also remain on board. The new team has already led the first training session.
Kostmann has been working for Arminia again since 2017, where he previously worked from 2011 to 2015. As a player, the former goalkeeper completed seven Bundesliga games for 1. FC Saarbrücken. Henke, an old acquaintance, is at the side of the 56-year-old. The long-standing Hitzfeld assistant was most recently sports director at FC Ingolstadt from 2019 to 2021, where he previously worked as an assistant coach for a number of years. He last worked as an assistant coach in China at Shanghai Shenhua in 2018.
Kramer was no longer believed capable of rescuing
Kramer was no longer believed capable of rescuing. “Frank Kramer managed to stay up with the team last year. Nobody will take this success away from him. After many intensive discussions and a detailed analysis of the current situation, we are no longer convinced that we can do it again in the existing constellation.” said Arabi. In addition to Kramer, assistant coach Ilia Gruev is no longer on the team.
In December and January, Kramer had led the team out of the bottom of the table in 14th place with six games in a row without defeat. Most recently, the team had suffered six defeats in the past seven games without a win and scored just one goal. “We managed to stay up in the league last season from a similar situation and I’m firmly convinced that Arminia will achieve this great goal this time too,” said the head coach in farewell.
In the table, the team is two points behind the relegation rank and is three points behind rank 15. The game at 1. FC Köln is next Saturday, followed by the games against direct rivals Hertha BSC as well as VfL Bochum and RB Leipzig. Kramer is the fifth coach to be released early this season after Mark van Bommel (VfL Wolfsburg), Pal Dardai and Tayfun Korkut (both Hertha BSC) and Jesse Marsch (RB Leipzig).