One of Kirchler’s major goals is to turn the Cashpoint Arena into a home base. “Altach has to do what it used to do again. It has to have a stadium where the teams have respect when they get caught because they know that an opponent is waiting who eats grass and smashes everything,” said Kirchler. For this it is necessary to leave the “patchwork” of players behind and to develop a team that plays “modern, attractive” football. With more continuity and fewer hasty shots, quieter times should return to the country in the future.
As a long-term goal, he named establishing the club as number one in the qualifying group. This is currently music of the future. “We roll up our sleeves, hit the keys, the phone doesn’t stop ringing. The nights are short, the days long,” Altach’s sporting director outlined. He made a conscious decision to deal with the stress. “As you get older, you take it upon yourself to do whatever is fun in life. Altach is a big family and for me as a person it’s important that I feel comfortable,” says Kirchler.
Search for new coach in full swing
An important personnel decision is imminent at Altach when Kirchler takes office. A successor to “Fireman” Klaus Schmidt must be found in the coaching position. For Kirchler, the next few days will be about making a plus-minus list of the “five to ten” candidates. Among them is Joachim Standfest, the previous co-trainer of the Vorarlbergers, as Kirchler confirmed.
“He’s clearly an issue, we don’t want to deny that,” said the sports director when asked about the ex-ÖFB team kicker. The 43-year-old Styrian Standfest had given up his academy post at Wiener Austria in mid-March in order to achieve the mission of staying up in the Bundesliga with Altach together with Klaus Schmidt. It’s no secret that his next goal is to step into the first row of coaches. “He meets many of the criteria that are at the top of Plus, Minus says that he is a young, inexperienced coach, but Adi Hütter or Oliver Glasner also started out small,” said Kirchler.
Desired coach is a “young Austrian”
The ex-Innsbruck top performer came out as a fan of a coach who speaks German. It would be even better “if it were a young Austrian”. “But we also want to give other coaches who have a connection to Austria and who know the club a chance,” the 52-year-old kept everything open. There isn’t much time to think. “Time is of the essence,” emphasized Kirchler. Also, since a powerful team has to be set up for the coming season.
A relegation thriller similar to that of the past season should be avoided in 2023/24 with the new coach. Newcomers should help with that. “We can’t bring in eight new players, we’ll have to score three, four, five goals and that should be a direct hit. Not that they have to work right away, but that they fit into the team,” Kirchler said.
Kirchler as the head of the sporting management
The Tyrolean is supported by two other players, chief scout Marc-Andre Kriegl and ex-kicker Philipp Netzer. According to his own statements, managing director Christoph Längle wants to get involved above all in matters of “negotiating skills and finances”. “The role model of sporting leadership should be perfectly fulfilled in the team, and the head of the team is the Roli,” explained Längle. For Kirchler it is a return to an old place of work, between the beginning of 2007 and mid-2008 he wore the Altach dress himself as an active player.