Quiet Easter Holidays? For those responsible at SV Guntamatic Ried, this question can be answered with a resounding “no”.
After the unfortunate 3-2 home defeat to Tirol, things took their course over the long weekend – once again. The head coach was Robert Ibertsberger for less than four months, OÖN reported.
The coach wear in Ried has been enormous for years, continuity looks completely different. It doesn’t matter whether the trainer’s name was Miron Muslic, Andreas Heraf or Ibertsberger. When presenting the coach, those responsible for the club usually used similar formulations. There was talk of a “long-term and best solution”. Not much of it has remained, the opposite was and is the case.
With the exception of promotion coach Gerald Baumgartner, no coach has stayed on the “Rieder sling chair” for an entire season in recent years. Before Baumgartner, who was coach from January 2019 to November 2020, Michael Angerschmid was the last to do so. Eintracht Frankfurt’s current assistant coach was Rieder’s head coach from December 2012 to May 2014. If Ried hadn’t missed the championship group by a hair’s breadth due to Sturm Graz’s late equalizer in the last round of the regular season, there would hardly be talk of a change of coach now. However, the performance in the qualification group, which is about sporting survival in the Bundesliga, has so far been too weak. Just four points from five games is not enough, especially the home games are a cause for great concern. The lead over the bottom of the table is only four points, after the points were shared it was eight, the trend does not speak for the SVR. Ried is in the middle of a relegation battle.
Waiting might have aggravated the situation further
Therefore, the renewed change of coach for insiders was not a big surprise. In several crisis talks over the holidays, the decision was made to give new impetus. As is usual in Ried, the decision by the board of directors was unanimous. Whether another change of coach was the right decision remains to be seen. However, the club agreed on another change of coach, so the timing is right. Waiting further before the important games, although one would no longer have been convinced of the Ibertsberger solution, might have aggravated the situation. Of course, the 45-year-old from Salzburg, who worked from 2010 to 2017 as head of the youth academy for Rieder, was not given much time.
favorite of the fans
But in the relegation battle, which, as a smaller club, you find yourself in almost every season due to the league format with points shared, coaches have it even harder than usual.
With Christian Heinle, the preferred candidate of many fans is now taking over. The man from Grieskirchen also enjoys great trust from the team and the board. Already in autumn he looked after the SV Ried quite successfully – but only on an interim basis.
If Heinle had already been accepted for the next course for the UEFA Pro License, Ibertsberger would probably not have been brought in at all. Now Heinle has passed the entrance exam. Although the one-and-a-half-year coaching course only starts in the summer, the 37-year-old can now take over as head coach of a Bundesliga team.
In the past, the club was happy to bring up the argument “the permanent further development” of the team. With a constant castling in the position of the trainer, however, this is only possible with difficulty. The bottom line is that in professional football, especially in the tough relegation battle, it’s the points that count. These will be needed in the next two games against Tirol and Admira Wacker in order to be able to go to the cup final in Klagenfurt with some peace of mind. Heinle has already proven his qualities as an interim coach, he has the team and the coaching team on his side.
Long term solution?
The club emphasizes that they rely on Heinle beyond the season, even in the event of relegation. You may have to be measured by these words. Stability would do SVR good, maybe Heinle is actually the right man in the right place.
Source: Nachrichten
