In October, the permanently ailing 1. FC Nürnberg presented Markus Weinzierl as coach – and hopes to get into calmer waters. But nothing gets better. And now the “Club” is pulling the ripcord for the second time this season: Weinzierl has to go again.
After the Heidenheim debacle, 1. FC Nürnberg parted ways with coach Markus Weinzierl. The traditional Franconian club had lost 5-0 at 1. FC Heidenheim the day before and revealed blatant deficits. The people of Nuremberg also released Weinzierl’s assistant Tobias Zellner. According to the information, the player replacement training is headed by assistant coach Frank Steinmetz.
Weinzierl only succeeded Robert Klauß, who was on leave, last October. He was initially able to stabilize the team defensively, but he was also unable to initiate an upswing. Weinzierl had previously looked after FC Augsburg, VfB Stuttgart and FC Schalke 04. Weinzierl had only won two of his ten league games in Nuremberg. The 0:5 debacle was the sad low point – and the end. Actually, it should “go without saying that you have to defend yourself here with everything you have,” Weinzierl lamented after the game. “We didn’t do that. We’re all disappointed.”
In its current form, 1. FC Nürnberg must be very concerned about staying up in the league. The crisis team is 13th in the table with 22 points, but the advantage over relegation rank 16 is only two points. Next Saturday, FCN will meet the bottom of the table from Sandhausen in a basement duel, who also parted ways with their coach Alois Schwartz at the weekend. “Now it’s about how the team reacts,” said Weinzierl after Heidenheim’s bankruptcy. Weinzierl will now have to watch the team’s reaction from afar.
“We have to pull ourselves together quickly in the week to straighten that out against Sandhausen. We’re the ones who have to move even closer together in order to achieve better results,” sporting director Hecking demanded after the disaster in Heidenheim. “We don’t need to discuss the fact that the fans aren’t satisfied, I agree with them. We owe it to them.”
