Ex-professional over 1st head coach station
SCR Altach landed a coup in the summer with the commitment of Miroslav Klose as the new coach. Because the 44-year-old ex-professional had previously been traded at clubs in Germany, but decided on the Austrian first division club as his first head coach station. In his first five months in office, the 2014 world champion had to survive a sporting crisis when he went seven games in a row without a win in all competitions.
This time was a “sticking point” for the former top striker, as Klose reported to “Kicker”. “I had to nibble on that,” he admitted and followed up with a review of the previous games. But he wants to be patient. “It takes time, people often talk about six months,” says Klose about the development process. In general, “the steps are going in the right direction”. Internally they had set themselves the goal of 15 points by the winter break, which was achieved. This puts Vorarlberg in tenth out of twelve places in the Bundesliga.
At the end of the season, Klose, who is hoping for two established new players in the coming transfer period, is aiming for “7th or 8th place – or just above the line”. “We want to get closer to the bottom line and not always fight against the last or penultimate place.”
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Altach Managing Director Langle on Klose: “We didn’t care about the name”
Christoph Längle sees it that way too. The managing director of the SCR, in office since 2008, dreams of Altach remaining number one in Vorarlberg in the long term. For this, the club would have to leave league rivals SC Austria Lustenau behind. After a 22-year absence, the Lustenauers have risen to the upper house and recently won both derbies. In terms of squad value, however, Altach with 10.5 million euros ranks ahead of Lustenau (8.8 million euros).
Klose’s prestige helps to accelerate the development of the club and, for example, to have a better chance of signing promising talent. Nevertheless, Längle emphasizes: “For us it wasn’t about the name Klose, but about the coach and the people.” The biggest plus of the German record scorer is his character. “For him, it’s always about the sense of togetherness.” In addition, he speaks “the language of the players”.
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So far, Klose has only scored one point on average from 18 games – but he’s firmly in the saddle: “Miro feels the trust of the club, but he clearly knows that he has to deliver.” Altach has Altach for Klose, who wants to play football actively according to Längle “no sponsor”, no financial support needed. “What he earns with us in a year, he earned in a week in his active career.”
Rather, the coach is about gaining experience as a head coach. He had previously worked as an assistant under Hansi Flick at FC Bayern until the summer of 2021. After that he had to recover from a thrombosis. “I really enjoy it here,” explained Klose. “I can try things out and implement them, get a feeling for the team and the players.”
Klose leaves Altach’s future open – talks with club management planned
In a conversation with “Kicker” he left open whether he would also be on the sidelines at SCR in the coming season: “I’m totally relaxed.” Talks in winter with the club management should provide information about this. At the moment, Klose does not rate the likelihood of a return to Germany and a possible first engagement in the Bundesliga as too high, but does not rule it out either. “You can never say never in football, but at the moment I don’t have the feeling that I really want to leave Altach.”
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