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Schalke put everything on one card for the rescue

Three days before New Year's Eve, around 350 fans gathered at the "Schalker Fan Feld", a communal burial ground in the Beckhausen-Sutum cemetery in Gelsenkirchen.

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Schalke put everything on one card for the rescue

Three days before New Year's Eve, around 350 fans gathered at the "Schalker Fan Feld", a communal burial ground in the Beckhausen-Sutum cemetery in Gelsenkirchen. Here, just a few hundred meters from the arena, many Schalke players have their final resting place. Rudi Assauer, for example, the former manager, or club idol Reinhard "Stan" Libuda.

Erich Wehner was buried here with great sympathy. World champion Olaf Thon and promotion coach Mike Büskens also came. Funds had previously been raised for the funeral, because Erich never had any money. Despite this, he has been present almost everywhere the Royal Blues have played over the past few decades. There was always someone who would take Erich with them or pay for his ticket. He belonged to the royal blue family. After the funeral, Pils was drunk and reminisced: How Erich somehow managed to travel to the most remote venues in Europe - or how he actually tried to take a donkey on the plane in Trabzon back then.

The stories and memories are the glue that holds Schalke together. This also became clear at the end of a year that was one of the most emotional in the club's history: a threatening financial crisis was defused and in May they were promoted back to the Bundesliga. “Over the summer we celebrated, so boisterous but aware that we have a big task ahead of us. Now, at the end of the year, we know that most of the challenge still lies ahead of us," wrote the board of directors in his Christmas greeting to the fans on the Schalke website.

That's not an understatement. The promoted winters as bottom of the table with five points behind in 15th place. If the direct promotion was already a feat of strength - staying in the class will be an even bigger one. Because even if there was an upward trend under the new coach Thomas Reis in the last four games before the World Cup break - the team is struggling to meet the demands in the Bundesliga. She has to push her limits. Nothing will change about that, because the budget in which Schalke is operating is extremely tight.

In terms of reinforcements, not too much has happened so far. In Niklas Tauer, 21, a defensive midfielder was loaned out from Mainz 05. The Japanese Soichiro Kozuki, 22, who previously played as a right winger for the Schalke U23, received a professional contract. With Tim Skarke, 26, a winger from Union Berlin, Schalke are already quite far. A rental business is also planned. The move of Finland international Jere Uronen was announced on Saturday. The club is loaning the 28-year-old defender from the French first division club Stade Brest until the end of the season and then has an option to buy the left-back.

Sports Director Peter Knäbel hopes to be able to strengthen the team. “We see that there is still something we should do due to the rehabilitation periods of several players. We still have the fishing rod in the pond,” explained the 56-year-old before the team moved into their training camp in Belek (Turkey) last Monday. There was bad news again: Sebastian Polter injured himself in the test against Swiss champions FC Zurich (2: 2), there is a suspicion of a cruciate ligament injury, the club said on Sunday. The striker will most likely be absent for the rest of the season.

Knäbel makes no secret of the fact that there is a great need. Basically, Schalke would need reinforcements in all parts of the team. The defense is anything but stable. Goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow revealed weaknesses. In addition, the defense suffered from the departure of Ko Itakura. The Japanese, whom Schalke had borrowed from Manchester City in 2021, could not be held. The five million euros fee that the English then asked for him last summer simply could not be raised. That this is the new reality – many fans are still struggling with that. For decades, they were used to their club paying for sporting success with new debts.

Behind Schalke are two radical changes in personnel under difficult conditions. And while Knäbel and sports director Rouven Schröder did a lot right after the descent in the summer of 2021, when they replaced almost the entire team and reduced the salary volume from over 80 million euros to just over 20 million, not everything worked out after the climb.

Schwolow wasn't the only access with problems. Maya Yoshida, who was supposed to fill the void left by Itakura, also struggled. Sebastian Polter, who was bought from VfL Bochum for 1.5 million euros, did not live up to expectations, nor did Kenan Karaman, who came on a free transfer from Besiktas Istanbul. In addition, there were injuries such as those of the defenders Leo Greiml and Sepp van den Berg or the play designer Rodrigo Zalazar.

There have been over 100 transfer movements in the past year and a half. They were necessary to meet the economic requirements, but they also stressed the club - especially those responsible. It was only in the last few minutes before the transfer window closed that there was final certainty that the tight budget could be met. It was also the consequences of the associated burdens and the sudden internal criticism that led to Rouven Schröder surprisingly resigning from his post on October 26.

This hit Knäbel hard. His emotional press conference made people sit up and take notice. "Perhaps at that moment I was a little too human and not enough board member," he told WELT AM SONNTAG. Schröder had become "a friend for life" in the 18 months of working together. Together they led Schalke back into the first division.

Of course, they also made mistakes: Frank Kramer's commitment as head coach was one of them. He had never managed to rally the crew behind him. Out of understandable skepticism about the potential of the squad, he chose overly cautious formations and attitudes: the already manageable level of play continued to sink – and the self-confidence of the players even more so.

At least that has changed since Reis took over the team. Although only one of four games was won under the new coach (2:1 against Mainz), the team is braver and more determined. Schalke has been playing football since Reis came: Even in the 0-2 draw against Bayern, the Royal Blues didn't stand a chance. That gives you a little courage. "The rice football emotionalizes and works," said Knäbel.

So the greatest hope with regard to the remaining 19 Bundesliga games is the coach. Based on this conviction, Knäbel does everything possible to create the best possible conditions for rice. This also means that the competencies are reorganized in the spirit of the head coach. Büskens, who became an assistant coach again after promotion, will no longer work so closely with the team in the future. Instead, he should work as a “liaison coach”: He should take care of talented people who are about to join the professional team. The contract with assistant coach Beniamino Molinari has been terminated. Reis alone should decide who will sit on the bench in the future.

Schalke relies entirely on Reis, also because reinforcements are difficult to implement - and on the fact that he will get significantly more out of the players than his predecessor. If this succeeds, predicts sports director Knäbel, there will be "something more" that helped Schalke to climb towards the end of last season: "the unbelievable support from our fans". Remaining in the class will be difficult - but without the cohesion of the club and its supporters it would be utopian.

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