Thomas Reis has been promoted to the Bundesliga with VfL Bochum and managed to stay up in the league. A defeat at Schalke leads to his dismissal – now the Royal Blues have signed the 49-year-old after falling to last place in the table. The order is clear.
FC Schalke 04 has signed Thomas Reis as the new head coach. The climber officially announced this. There had already been corresponding media reports on Wednesday evening. The successor to Frank Kramer should bring about the much-needed trend reversal in the newly promoted and bottom of the Bundesliga table. The omens for this are extremely bad: Last Sunday, Schalke suffered their fifth league defeat in a row at Hertha BSC under interim coach Matthias Kreutzer. Kramer had previously been on leave after just four months. Sports director Rouven Schröder left Schalke completely unexpectedly on Wednesday.
Reis is already the seventh coach of the traditional club in two years. In Dimitrios Grammozis, an ex-coach is still on the payroll, but the clammy district club canceled the contract with Kramer. According to media reports, as in the summer before Kramer’s commitment, Schalke again received a number of rejections when looking for a coach. Bruno Labbadia, among others, is said to have waved him off.
Reis is familiar with the situation at the bottom of the table. VfL Bochum parted ways with him in September after six defeats at the start of the season – as 18th in the table, his last game was a 1:3 draw at Schalke. Negotiations with Reis and VfL Bochum also proved difficult for Schalke. According to reports, the coach will have to pay a transfer fee, which, according to unconfirmed media reports, Reis is supposed to pay in part himself.
“We are very happy that we were able to win Thomas Reis as the new head coach for Schalke 04,” said Peter Knäbel, member of the board of directors and responsible for sports: “In the short term, it will be important for us to get from the four games to the to score as many points as possible during the World Cup break. Afterwards, it will be crucial to use the long winter break in such a way that the team and coaching staff are optimally prepared for the 19 games up to the end of the season. We are convinced that Thomas will be able to do this is just the right man.”
Schalke is said to have been interested in Reis as early as the summer and the former football professional toyed with a change. One of the things that speaks for the robust coach is that he knows and appreciates the Ruhr area. However, what is even more important: Reis has already shown in Bochum with the surprisingly sovereign relegation last season that he can get a lot out of a squad with financial disadvantages compared to the competition.
He should now do the same at Schalke. So far, the Gelsenkircheners have only sporadically demonstrated their suitability for the Bundesliga. Together with Bochum, Schalke provide the most harmless offensive in the league. In addition, Schalke, who have only scored six points in eleven games so far, conceded the second most goals in the upper house.
