A diffuse feeling of uncertainty hovered over the Müngersdorf stadium when a last, rather pitiful shot attempt sent the ball fluttering far past the Freiburg goal and the referee blew the game’s final whistle. After 1. FC Köln’s 0-0 draw against the sports club, Rhenish optimists could still imagine scenarios in which their club would be allowed to play in the Bundesliga next year, but that was just one aspect of the “strange mood” that captain Florian Kainz noticed after the game.
Players, coaches, those responsible, spectators – no one really knew what was going to happen. There was reason to fear that anger and sadness would at some point turn into aggression after notable events took place not only on the pitch but also in the media.
A tabloid magazine had incited the audience and openly called for them to decide emotionally after the game, “like in ancient Rome,” whether those responsible for the precarious situation should be held accountable or not. Anyone who knew that those involved had been physically attacked after previous Cologne relegations could have feared the worst.
At the same time, President Werner Wolf had confirmed in an interview that was perceived by many commentators as disturbing that both the three managing directors and the three-member executive board would continue even in the event of relegation: “We will not give in to calls for resignations and layoffs,” Wolf announced: “That would be a relapse into the mechanisms that have prevented the FC from growing sustainably for many years.”
When the game ended, there was no anger. It just became very quiet. Perhaps the still existing chance of staying in the class at that moment had appeased people a little. Perhaps large parts of the audience have matured so much after six relegations between 1998 and 2018 that they no longer want to follow the simple solutions suggested by the loudest screamers.
Classic thought patterns have no place
It remains debatable whether President Wolf’s interview was published at an inopportune time because it might disrupt concentration on the important game. “It’s so common at FC that things always come from outside,” said Kainz, who also explained: “That didn’t affect us as a team.”
Sports managing director Christian Keller explained in the evening that the main purpose of the interview was to create certainty among the many employees who are working on the future of the FC at completely different levels: “It’s not about individual heads, it’s about Clarity for all employees.” Because the same idea lies behind both the collapse on the pitch and the intention to continue with the same club management.
The people of Cologne want to be like SC Freiburg: a healthy club, run with reason and expertise, that remains true to itself even in worse years. And who doesn’t put money into the squad that doesn’t exist. The classic mental patterns of football operations, according to which resignations and dismissals are due in the event of failure, have no place here, especially since it is known that this punishment mechanism rarely achieves the goal. It seems wiser to weigh up the personnel decisions against the background of another question: Who can best help the club to a successful future?
Wolf argued that mistakes had been made in squad planning, “but above all the progress in almost all other areas of the FC (…) convinces us to continue working together.” Since there were hardly any funds available and no sources of money were to be tapped beyond the actual operation, it is not only the sports management that is responsible for the team’s weaknesses, but the entire club management.
Cost-effective because it is prone to injury
However, a bitter truth remains: the course of economic restructuring of the club, supported by both the executive committee and the management, has caused damage particularly in the area where the use of money is particularly important: in the storm. With Luca Waldschmidt, Mark Uth and Davie Selke, only attackers who are suitable for the Bundesliga play at FC and who are extremely susceptible to injuries and therefore also cost-effective. Strikers like Steffen Tigges, Sargis Adamyan and Faride Alidou, on the other hand, demonstrated with their performances against Freiburg why FC only scored 24 goals in 32 Bundesliga games; there is simply a lack of quality.
However, the problem only became a serious problem when the international football association FIFA issued a transfer ban due to irregularities in the signing of a youth player. Those responsible repeatedly failed to take advantage of the opportunity to avert this punishment through an out-of-court settlement, meaning that the weak squad could not be strengthened last winter. New players are not even allowed to come in the summer, which is why skeptics even believe that relegation to the third division is possible.
It is a catastrophic situation, but no one can say under what kind of leadership it can best be managed. “We want to break the vicious circle of opportunistic measures of the past 35 years,” said President Wolf, so there will be no personnel consequences. Just like the people of Freiburg do, although it may be that more competent people are at work there. However, it is questionable whether the Cologne opposition around former player Dieter Prestin, who is raging in public, would put together a smarter club management.