As a player, Miroslav Klose was a big name. As a coach, he is a novice. At SCR Altach he will have to change.
On Friday afternoon (June 17th, 2022) they received a gentle indication of what could await them in the future at SCR Altach. It was just a few minutes since the Austrian Bundesliga club presented Miro Klose as the new coach when the club’s website server went on strike. He was overloaded, the interest was just too great.
Altach is a municipality in the federal state of Vorarlberg, it has 7,000 inhabitants and interest in the local football club has so far been limited. But times are changing, and Klose’s commitment could represent a turning point in the history of SCR Altach. They have high hopes that world champion Klose will become the head coach there.
“World star in the country”
For the media, of course, it was also a nice story with Klose and Altach. You couldn’t have guessed. The “Kleine Zeitung” called it one “Sensation”“Die Presse” wrote of one “World star in the country”. They were almost euphoric at the SCR Altach too.
Later, when the club’s homepage was available again, they presented a short video there. It only lasted 47 seconds, but that was enough to introduce Klose as a “football legend”.
From the DFB via Bayern to Altach
Of course there was something to it. Klose, 44, was an international attacker as a player, he played for Werder Bremen and for Bayern, he was also at Lazio Rome. He has always scored goals, especially for the German national team. He has scored 71 goals in 131 international matches and is still the record goalscorer. He has scored 16 goals at World Cups, which is also a record. And he was world champion too, that was in 2014.
Two years later, Klose ended his career and then became a coach without a long break. First he was assistant coach to Joachim Löw in the national team, later he coached the Bayern U17s and most recently he was assistant coach in Munich until July 2021.
New at SCR Altach: Miroslav Klose
The job in Altach is still a premiere, it’s his first as a boss in the professional sector.
No easy task awaits Klose
And because that always involves risks, even if the new coach was a legend as a player, they made it clear in Altach why they chose Klose. Of course, the new one has a big name, says Altach’s managing director Christoph Längle, but that’s not what it’s all about. “But about the personality of Miro Klose, his skills as a coach and what is very important to us at SCR Altach: the people.”
Not an easy task awaits coach Klose in Altach. Not much was missing in the 2021/22 season, and the Bundesliga club Altach would have become a second division club. In the new season, too, the club will not be playing for titles, as Klose has known so far.
Klose will have to adapt
You can explain that with the demands at the SCR on the personnel Philipp Netzer. Netzer, 36, played for Altach for many years, including in the second division. Netzer was captain to the end, and when he was fit he mostly played. Now he stops. Altach has signed Lukas Gugganig, 27, as a replacement.
Gugganig was once a junior national player in Austria, he was already a talent. But it wasn’t enough for the big breakthrough. Gugganig has played in Germany for the past seven years, sometimes in the 2nd division, most recently with third division side VfL Osnabrück. Klose will have to get used to the fact that many things in Altach are one size smaller than in Bayern.
Klose will be officially presented on Monday
In a press release published by the club on Friday, Klose is also quoted. According to Klose, he immediately had the feeling that he “right here” be. Now he can “Hardly expect to get to know the team, the people in the club and of course the fans.”
But first he will get to know the media representatives. Klose will be officially presented on Monday (06/20/2022). It will then be seen whether they have already gotten used to the newly won public interest in Altach. Whether the server of the club homepage can withstand the calls this time.