Coach in Austria
Allow Miro Klose, World Cup record scorer, head coach at SCR Altach from now on
Miroslav Kose, new head coach of SCR Altach
© Carsten Harz / Getty Images
Miroslav Klose makes his debut as a football head coach in the Austrian provinces. However, the World Cup record goalscorer seems to know exactly what he’s doing. At his presentation in Altach, Klose is resolute and self-confident.
Miroslav Klose is not someone who makes things easy for himself. Not even with his first job as head coach at the small SCR Altach in Austria. Last season, the club almost relegated from the 7,000-inhabitant community. There are more promising places to start a career as a head coach who eventually wants to go high.
But Klose doesn’t tick like that. Maybe that’s because of his life path. At the age of seven he came to Germany with his family as a Polish emigrant. He completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter, was still playing in the district league at the age of 19 (at the famous Blaubach-Diedelkopf) and at the age of 22 made the leap into the Bundesliga with 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
He was known as eager to learn, always wanting to improve, as well as being a quiet fellow and a team player with an incredible instinct to score. Klose embodied the opposite of the blink-blink professional, down-to-earth, a family man. So he laid down a world career. He played for Werder Bremen, FC Bayern and Lazio Rom and only ended his career at the age of 38. During this time he shot himself to become the record goalscorer for the German national team (71 goals), the World Cup record goalscorer (16) and at the age of 36 he became world champion.
In Altach, Miro Klose can fish in peace
Klose also likes to fish and sometimes needs his quiet time to switch off. Seen in this light, it fits quite well that the 44-year-old is now starting his first job as head coach in the Austrian football province. At SCR Altach they want to start anew, and with the big name Klose.
Klose has always (see above) gone his own way. After the end of his career, he didn’t rush into anything, but calmly planned the next steps to becoming a coach. He coached FC Bayern’s U17s for three years before becoming assistant coach under Hansi Flick. Klose could have followed Flick to the national team, but decided against it: “Assistant coach would be the more comfortable way, and I don’t want to go that way,” he recently announced. He sat out a year completely because of a thrombosis disease, so now the SCR Altach.
At his presentation in Austria, he sounded very confident: “I’m convinced that we’ll come forward quite quickly,” he announced: “I’m putting myself under a lot of pressure. I have clear ideas.”
As the new head coach, Klose exudes a lot of optimism
His entry as head coach is unlikely to be easy. The almost relegation season “has left its mark”, admitted Altach’s managing director Christoph Längle. But Klose himself sees this less as a burden than as motivation. At his first press conference as head coach, he exuded optimism and sounded almost euphoric. “I’m here and I’m really happy,” said the 44-year-old, repeatedly speaking of a “huge feeling”.
Klose is well aware of the effect his name has on those around him. “I had a great feeling from the talks right from the start. People want something to happen here,” said the 2014 world champion.
With material from DPA