The Styrians suffered their fourth competitive defeat in a row with a 0-1 loss against WSG Tirol on Sunday and only ended the regular season in tenth place. After the points were shared, the lead over bottom SCR Altach is only five points. Klaus Schmidt, who is making a comeback in the league, should secure relegation.
After a detailed analysis of the previous 22 rounds, Russ was released with immediate effect, according to TSV, who had not won six games in the league. “Unfortunately, the development in the past few weeks and months did not go in the desired direction. An upward trend could not be identified,” explained TSV Managing Director Erich Korherr. The 57-year-old only succeeded Markus Schopp, who had emigrated, in the summer, but was unable to match the successes of his predecessor in the league. In the cup it was only in the semifinals against SV Ried that they ended up.
Schmidt, who has often demonstrated his qualities as an interim coach, is not only seen as a short-term solution. The 54-year-old from Styria signed a contract that runs until the summer of 2023 and is therefore still scheduled to be head coach at least for the coming season. Schmidt has not worked as a coach since leaving after a two-month comeback at Admira at the end of last season, but had provided interesting analyzes in the studio of the pay channel Sky.
He is now returning to the coaching bench and will be leading his first training session on Tuesday. There isn’t much time to settle in, as the trend-setting guest appearance in Altach is already on the agenda on Saturday, where a win could be a big step towards remaining in the league. “Klaus Schmidt fits TSV Hartberg like a glove. An experienced man who is dying to get involved. We are convinced that we can give the necessary impetus to achieve the goal of staying up in the league as quickly as possible,” said Korherr.
Schmidt himself described Hartberg as a club that had established itself well in the Bundesliga. “I’m happy to be a part of it and would like to develop the club together with those responsible and take a step forward,” says Schmidt. In the Bundesliga, he was previously at the forefront of coaching at Austria Kärnten (2007/08), SCR Altach (2017/18), SV Mattersburg (2018/19) and Admira (2019/20 and 2021).
Source: Nachrichten
