Familiar face
January 19, 2010
Following the sacking of head coach Andreas Bergmann earlier in the day, German Bundesliga soccer club Hanover 96 has named Mirko Slomka as the man now charged with righting the sinking ship in Hanover. The team has not won a match in seven tries and recorded its third straight defeat at the weekend with a 3-0 loss to bottom of the table Hertha Berlin.
Coaching changes have become a familiar scene in Hanover this season. Back in August, after just two matches, Hanover fired then coach Dieter Hecking and replaced him with Bergmann, who had previously only coached at the amateur level. Bergmann only lasted 16 matches - winning four - and leaves the team third from the bottom in the table with relegation into the second league a looming possibility. The last win for Hanover came on October 31 against Cologne.
Hanover have struggled to find their form after the suicide of the team's goalkeeper Robert Enke on November 10. In a statement on the team's website, Hanover's sporting director, Joerg Schmadtke, praised Bergmann for his leadership as the team coped with Enke's death, but said the decision ultimately came down to concerns that Bergmann would not be able to secure the wins necessary to keep the team from dropping into the second league. Bergmann became the sixth coach to be fired in the Bundesliga this season.
Hiring a local
New coach Mirko Slomka brings with him experience in the Bundesliga and in Hanover. His most recent station as a head coach was with Schalke 04 from 2006-2008, where he led the team to second place in the Bundesliga and into the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
In Hanover, Slomka was an assistant under former head coach Ralf Rangnick from 2001-2004 and was the club's youth trainer for a decade starting in 1989. Slomka's contract with Hanover runs until 2011 and is only valid if the team remains in the top-flight Bundesliga. Since being released from Shalke in April 2008, Slomka's name has often been floated around vacant head coaching positions, but until this week the job always went to someone else.
Hanover's first match under Slomka will be this weekend on the road against Mainz.
"I'm convinced that we'll find our stride quickly in the right direction," said Slomka, who lives in Hanover, in a statement on the team's website. "The team and I will have to get used to each other quickly so we can score some points Saturday against Mainz."
mz/dpa/sid
Editor:Susan Houlton