Anyone who dialed the number of the man on Tuesday who has been both the sporting director and head coach of 1. FC Nürnberg since the beginning of the week came across an interesting profile picture: It shows Dieter Hecking firing a right-footed shot with a determined look and exemplary posture. The whole thing, of course, in kick shoes and the training clothes of the second division team. “But you mustn’t overinterpret that now,” he warns. “The picture was taken in winter at the training camp.”
It really couldn’t have happened on this Tuesday. After all, Hecking spent the day talking a lot, not least with his two future assistants, Cristian Fiél and Frank Steinmetz, in order to “develop an idea as quickly as possible that we believe will bring the team forward”. Hecking sounds determined. He is apparently not aware that the next few months will also decide his personal future in Nuremberg, since the chairman of the supervisory board Thomas Grethlein said so on Monday.
And if you go through the individual parts of the team with him, the list of injured people, the list of all the players from the U19s and U23s who were last allowed to train with the professionals, you will notice that someone is quite convinced that this squad can do more , than the current table position indicates. “That’s why it’s only logical that I take over myself.” But only until the end of the season. Then the FCN needs a new coach again. “Who that will be really doesn’t concern us at the moment,” says Hecking. “Now it’s all about staying up.”
The day before, however, Hecking had let it be known that he believes Fiél, 42, is capable of working successfully as a head coach in the professional sector, but that he considers the current time to be unfavorable. In fact, Fiél would not only take over an insecure team in danger of relegation, but also make his debut in a difficult environment: the patience of the fans, as recently shown by the wild abuse that fell on players and officials after the 0: 5 in Heidenheim, has been used up. Should the club fall behind against bottom-placed SV Sandhausen on Saturday, things could get uncomfortable at the Max Morlock Stadium. Really not a good starting position for a young coach.
SV Sandhausen has also announced the dismissal of a coach – for very similar reasons
Not even for Fiél, who had also worked successfully with Dynamo Dresden for four years before training the first team for eight months in 2019. However, it is said in Dresden that he tried to turn too many things inside out in too short a time and chose a way of playing that was too risky. In this respect he seems to have learned something new, the games of the Nuremberg U23 are also defensively balanced. Fiél is apparently in good hands with a club with a large fan base such as Dresden or Nuremberg: “If you only have a little bit of football romance in you, then you are missing something if your autograph card says Wacker Nordhausen. Or …” he said still as a Dresden youth coach. Then he called the name of a second division club.
Good work for the U23s: Cristian Fiél now also pays attention to defensive balance.
(Photo: Sven Leifer/Foto2press/Imago)
Almost at the same time as FCN, SV Sandhausen announced the dismissal of a coach – for very similar reasons. The last four games were lost without the SVS having given up their 90-minute defensive tactics. An interesting parallel to the club, where Hecking has already announced that he will act more courageously in the future than was the case with his predecessor Weinzierl. In Sandhausen, defensive specialist Alois Schwartz, who coached the club for eight months in the 2016/2017 season, was replaced by Tomas Oral, who usually prescribes an offensive, attractive style of play for his teams.
Oral is remembered by club fans as the coach of FC Ingolstadt. In two relegation games, which were also hard fought on the sidelines, FCN prevailed against FCI at the end of the 2019/2020 season as the third from last in the second division with more luck than sense. In order for the club to be able to maintain its class this year without relegation games if possible, Dieter Hecking will work in the clothes he has been wearing on his profile picture since January for the first time this Wednesday.