While the present was on display on the pitch, the future of Holstein Kiel was on display in the stands. The stands in the cute Holstein Stadium are very clear, only around 15,000 spectators go in, which is why everyone there probably knows everyone else. A new face quickly stands out: Even if Carsten Wehlmann, the future of KSV, had wanted to, it would have been an impossible task for him to keep his visit to the stadium on Saturday hidden. Wehlmann is currently employed as sports director at Darmstadt 98, and in the coming season he will take on the same position at the coastal town team. And as things stand, his anticipatory desk work will now become at least a little more complicated.
Because Wehlmann watched as the Kiel team lost 1:3 against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, thereby losing their lead in the table in the second league and also being one point ahead of the third relegation place, which Fortuna Düsseldorf currently occupies. Future sports directors also love to gain planning security early on. If the historically first season in which a club from Schleswig-Holstein takes part in the first division is also on the horizon – then the manager has accepted the dramatic turn of events in a cold manner, which was not necessarily expected.
Kaiserslautern’s coach Funkel is firmly counting on Kiel’s promotion – which he himself helped prevent two years ago
The Kiel team had previously rushed through the second division too impressively, with six clean sheets in a row and a seemingly ever-increasing form curve. In this respect, Holstein coach Marcel Rapp did not allow himself to be dissuaded from his optimistic worldview: the defeat was “not a broken leg,” said Rapp: “We should continue on the path we have been on. Then we will get a few more points.” Two wins from the last three games would be enough for Kiel to jump straight into the first division. What was striking about this press conference, however, was that Rapp only took second place in the ranking of the most optimistic football coaches on this topic. Kaiserslautern’s Friedhelm Funkel not only praised Kiel’s “outstanding football”, the “beautiful city” and the “great work” that has been done for years under the current sports director Uwe Stöwer. He also dared to make a pretty solid prediction: “They’ll make it this year,” Funkel predicted with a certainty that would have surprised even Rapp.
Much to his (presumably) own chagrin, Funkel is familiar with Kiel’s shattered promotion dreams, as he was instrumental in two years ago when such a dream was shattered. Funkel was the coach of 1. FC Köln at the time and defeated KSV in the relegation, so the experienced coach may appear to some Kiel fans as a kind of representative of disaster: Kiel had a very unfortunate end to the season at the time, in which there were two Corona quarantines first the strength, then the direct promotion that was believed to be certain and finally the decisive duels against Funkel’s Cologne team were lost. Three years earlier, Holstein had already failed in relegation against VfL Wolfsburg.
2018, 2021, 2024? Even those people from Kiel who are not inclined to superstition will probably have beads of sweat forming on their foreheads when they think of this sinister three-year cycle, during which the “Storks” came within a hair’s breadth of climbing – in the end because of tiny little things but had to remain in the House of Commons. Even on Saturday, a lot of things that had worked out brilliantly recently didn’t work: coach Rapp actually formed one of the most balanced teams in the second division, the Kiel team always have excellent ideas with and against the ball – this time there was a problem with implementation because The Lauterers, who were threatened with relegation, gave the game a good dose of anarchy.
The 1:3 against Lautern wasn’t the only bad news for Holstein Kiel
After a corner, former Kiel player Daniel Hanslik headed the Funkel team into a 1-0 lead (13th minute). Holstein equalized through Alexander Bernhardsson (25th) and then had a few good chances, but still couldn’t find the usual rhythm of pressing and possession phases, while the Lauter team constantly claimed the momentum: Filip scored immediately before the half-time whistle Kaloc made it 1:2 (45th), Kiel’s final offensive was stopped by Marlon Ritter’s counterattack goal to make the final score 1:3 (83rd). But that wasn’t all the bad news for Holstein: captain Philipp Sander, defender Timo Becker and top scorer Steven Skrzybski had to be replaced with injuries. In addition, the important offensive man Finn Porath was missing due to a thigh injury.
Despite all these setbacks, the soon-to-be Kiel sports director seemed to feel at home: Carsten Wehlmann had a lively conversation with future employees and was shown around the Holstein Stadium, which is actually hardly suitable for the second division, and where he would certainly like to watch first division football next season.