After the Heidenheim debacle, 1. FC Nürnberg parted ways with coach Markus Weinzierl. The second division football team, threatened with relegation, announced this decision on Monday. 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.
The club announced at a press conference how things will continue in the coaching position. Sports director Dieter Hecking, who has long been the subject of criticism himself, will take over the coaching position until the end of the season. Weinzierl (48) only succeeded Robert Klauss 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. 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. Click here for the table of the second Bundesliga.
Next Saturday, FCN will receive the bottom of the table from Sandhausen in a crisis duel. “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.”