Türkiye “something very special”
©Samsunspor
After a good year and a half, the Samsunspor chapter for Thomas Reis ended two weeks ago. The club from the city on the Black Sea parted ways with the 52-year-old after 72 games and then presented Thorsten Fink, their third German head coach in a row. Reis now spoke about his retirement and declared that he was immediately ready for a new task.
According to the latest information from “Bild”, which coincided with that from Transfermarkt, Reis’ performance should actually be rewarded with a contract extension. It was only at the end of January that he was reportedly made an offer to extend his contract until 2027 with an option. However, in joint discussions, both parties were unable to agree on the sporting goals. While those in charge of the club supposedly want to be at the top permanently, Reis is said to have slowed down compared to the competition due to the manageable budget. In the course of this, an end to the collaboration after the season was said to have been discussed, which ended in an immediate end.
Reis confirmed this in an interview with “Sports1“: “I officially informed the club at the end of January that I would like to do something different in the summer and not extend my contract. The club was informed. We had talked about when the best time would be to communicate this because there were a lot of games coming up in February – league, conference league, Turkish Cup. The plan was actually to make this public at the end of February. That didn’t happen because the club brought forward the change with the certainty that they would need a new coach in the summer anyway.
The main reason for the separation was different opinions about their sporting ambitions. “Goals are important, but they have to be realistic. Consistently finishing in the top 4 or 5 or constantly playing in Europe is a very high goal if the budget cannot compete with the top teams. You can have dreams like that, but it was important to me that you don’t forget where we come from and how much we overperformed last season. The expectations diverged too far,” said Reis, who also emphasized that “the financial discussions were fine”: “There was no problem.”
Nevertheless, he wanted to take on a new challenge from the summer onwards – outside of Türkiye, which was “something very special”. “I’m extremely grateful for this experience. I really wanted to work abroad and never thought it would be Turkey. In terms of sport, it was successful, but there were limits when it came to squad composition and co-determination. When I came, the goal was to stay in the league, also because we had a transfer ban. In the first year we skipped several levels and then qualified internationally – for the first time in the club’s history. To derive permanent third or fourth place from this is not realistic in my opinion. If others see that as a benchmark, it will be difficult.” At 56.8 million euros, Samsunspor currently has the sixth most valuable squad in the Süper Lig.
In the previous season, Reis led Samsunspor to third place for the first time since 1987 – the best placement in the club’s history – and thus into the European Cup. Overall, there was an average score of 1.63. The ex-Schalke and Bochum player would have liked to continue until the summer. “Personally, I think the dismissal is a shame because we were on the right track. Before the playoff games in the Conference League we were still in a very decent seventh place in the league and we were also successful in the Turkish Cup. Being released shortly before the international playoffs is disappointing. But the decision is up to the club and I accept that.”
After Reis, Samsunspor is once again relying on a German coach, Fink, who started with two wins and a draw. A logical decision for Reis. “Before me, Markus Gisdol worked at Samsunspor. (…) The club has had good experiences with it. Apparently they believe that German coaches are a good fit for Samsun.”
Reis: “I’m also open to a new job in the current season”
According to Reis, he doesn’t need much time to catch his breath. “I’m fine. I handled it very well because it’s part of the deal. It wasn’t my first time off in my active coaching career.” The Wertheim native is back in Germany and is using the time to analyze a lot. Or to be right back on the sidelines: “I’m also open to a new job during the current season. I don’t necessarily have to wait until summer.”
His name was most recently traded at Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfL Wolfsburg. When asked about this, Reis evaded: “These are rumors that come up again and again, so I don’t refer to specific club names.” He worked as the U19 coach at the Wolves from 2016 to 2019.
