Between 2012 and 2014 the head coach at FC Schalke 04 was still Jens Keller. The ex-professional led the club into the Champions League twice and celebrated great successes with players like Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Julian Draxler, Joel Matip and Benedikt Höwedes. The former coach is still looking eagerly at FC Schalke and observing developments in the 2nd Bundesliga.
“It hurts when you see Schalke as a second division team. With the name, with the fans, with the environment, with the stadium, it hurts a lot,” said the 51-year-old frankly in an interview with “Sport1” to.
The fact that the Gelsenkirchen team initially suffered from great difficulties in the second division and had to accept several sporting setbacks came as no surprise to Keller. “It was clear that this couldn’t work from the start,” said the football teacher at the start of the Schalke season after practically the entire team had been replaced last summer.
“I believe that you have now gone the right way.” The people involved had recently “worked very, very well and put together a very good squad for the second division,” said Keller: “They’re slowly starting to roll, it’s slowly settling in.” He is convinced of the direct Bundesliga return of FC Schalke next summer.
Keller talks about an “unbelievable” time at FC Schalke
In retrospect, Keller described his own term of office in the Ruhr area as “unbelievable”. Keller was promoted to head coach in December 2014 after legendary coach Huub Stevens was on leave of absence and had an impressive one and a half seasons with the Royal Blues.
Despite the two-time qualification for the premier class, the Swabian had a difficult time in Gelsenkirchen and was quickly counted in public after defeats. The collaboration finally ended in October 2014, when Keller was replaced by Roberto Di Matteo as head coach.
“But that shaped me. Now there aren’t many things that can shake me. Schalke made me tougher. It was sometimes a difficult, but also a nice and, above all, totally successful time”, Keller only looks years later back with the best memories of his ex-club.
In the years that followed, he played at 1. FC Union Berlin, FC Ingolstadt and 1. FC Nürnberg in the second division, all of which ended after less than a year without any great sporting success.
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