The course of the Bremen season is similar to that of FC Schalke, only over a longer period. With the new coach Ole Werner, who had replaced Markus Anfang, who had been exposed with a fake vaccination card, Werder started a series in December that, after a narrow home win against Dynamo Dresden, showed 28 out of a possible 30 points from the previous ten games on March 6th. Werder was the leader and therefore the top favorite for promotion.
Successor to the colorless Grammozis
Schalke narrowly lost a home game on March 5, 4-3 against FC Hansa Rostock. It was the eighth loss of the season. There was little hope of being promoted back to the Bundesliga straight away. The gap to second place was still bearable with six points, but the football was according to the concept “Cross from the left, acceptance Simon Terodde” under the colorless coach Dimitrios Grammozis too simple to ignite a fire.
So Schalke had to be set on fire. Grammozis was put on leave, and his assistant Büskens was appointed interim boss by sporting director Rouven Schröder. Interim is something like a third nickname of Büskens, commonly “mike“ is mentioned, but above all on Schalke “buyo”.
He was also a goalkeeper at Schalke
Francisco Buyo was a goalkeeper, with Real Madrid he was Spanish champion six times in the 80s and 90s.
Büskens has been a lot at FC Schalke 04, including a goalkeeper. When Jens Lehmann was injured in a Bundesliga game in the early 1990s and the options for a change had already been exhausted, he left “buyo” into the goal, because in training he had often and liked to go into the goal.
This explains why Michael Büskens was named after a goalkeeper from his favorite Spanish club, and not after him Jose Antonio Camachowho also liked it rustic and never for any other club than that “royal” played.
Büskens is Schalke, and Schalke is Büskens
This does not apply to Büskens and FC Schalke, but Büskens is perceived as Schalke and Schalke Büskens. Hard work, ambition, passion – Mike Büskens embodies the values with which FC Schalke can and must be set on fire.
Only guarantees, which he cannot give either. Büskens as an interim solution was not necessarily a success story. This is another reason why there were doubts as to whether the native of Düsseldorf, who is now 53 years old, is the right solution.
motivator and facilitator
The fact that Schalke brought 70-year-old Peter Hermann to the interim coaching team shows that they too saw a need to provide Büskens with professional expertise. Hermann and the only 39-year-old Matthias Kreutzer are the football coaches at FC Schalke in the truest sense of the word. Büskens is also the motivator, the moderator. He has to hit the nerve, he’s the neurofighters in the fight for promotion.
The 5-2 win at SV Darmstadt 98 on Sunday (April 17, 2022) was the fifth win in five games under Büskens, although he had to be represented as boss in the first game in Ingolstadt (3-0) due to a corona infection by Kreutzer .
“Nothing achieved yet”
“We were able to extend the lead, but we also know that we haven’t achieved anything yet”, said Büskens in Darmstadt. It be one “long, long way” with the completely new team to get to the top of the table.
The road to promotion is still long, even if there are only four matchdays left. Against Bremen, the arena on the Berger Feld should be full again for the first time in more than two years. Werder are a bit battered after three 1-1 draws in a row. But what does that mean in this close race?
Schalke is on course thanks to Büskens, but early on he can only celebrate as a Eurofighter.