Felix Magath: Buying/Selling of players in Wolfsburg

Since his days at FC Schalke 04 Felix Magath is known as a coach who tries to build a team by buying and selling as per his plans and observations. Previous achievements or the name of the players do not matter and within days 'X' number of players can be gone and new players can come in.



Though saying before the summer break he wouldn't be so pro-active in the transfer window Magath has done it again this summer at VfL Wolfsburg especially after a weak start into the Bundesliga season.



Over the last few days Felix Magath has been so busy in trying to bring in players he wanted, get rid of players he doesn't want or send out players on loan to reduce the squad size that he might have forgotten about his main task, coaching.



Magath's last minute buys include Brazilian defender Chris, who last season was with Eintracht Frankfurt; on loan Belarus' Aleksandr Hleb from FC Barcelona after having taken on Greek international defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos and German midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger, who last season was with West Ham United; and Swedish striker Rasmus Jönsson from Helsingborg IF.



Earlier Magath had signed Croatian striker Srdjan Lakic from 1.FC Kaiserslautern, Bosnian midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic from Juventus Torino, German international Christian Träsch from VfB Stuttgart, Croatian defender Hrvoje Cale from Turkish side Trabzonspor plus the duo Patrick Ochs and Marco Russ from Eintracht Frankfurt.



Magath had hoped to get around 20 Million Euros from the sale of Brazilian playmaker Diego and Danish defender Simon Kjaer, but the duo could only be send out on loan. While Diego had to go for free on loan to Atletico Madrid, Kjaer will bring Magath 3 Million Euros from AS Roma. But he was able to sell Slovakian defender Peter Pekarík to Turkish side Kayserispor.



Earlier Algerian midfielder Karim Ziani, Brazilian striker Grafite, Turkish striker Tuncay Sanli, Swiss striker Nassim Ben Khalifa besides midfielders Sascha Riether and Fabian Johnson.



The above reads like a real exchange of players which Magath has done once more. If he will be able to form a team and bring success to Wolfsburg will have to be seen, then owners Volkswagen will surely want their team to play in European competitions next season.

Lahm writes autobiography, creates controversy

Germany and FC Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm has gotten himself into serious trouble with his upcoming autobiography, though it hasn't been released so far but only excerpts have been published in the German tabloid Bild.



The book titled 'The Subtle Difference' is about Lahm's observations over the years of his professional career about his coaches and teams. The first excerpts have been about Rudi Voeller, Juergen Klinsmann, Felix Magath and Louis van Gaal; with some harsh criticism from Lahm about their coaching and style of players management.



Philipp Lahm was surprised at the reactions and had to come out with a public statement which said, "Of course, I did not want to attack or offend Rudi Voeller, Juergen Klinsmann and other people. Rather I wanted, as is clear from reading my book, to portray my honest opinion about the work under different coaches and at different times."



All this hasn't gone down well with the football establishment in Germany with even the German FA (DFB) having to come together to discuss if any action would be taken against Lahm but the captain will not lose the armband as many in the German media speculated.



"We want mature players to make their opinions known, however in this case, Philipp has over-stepped the mark," said team manager Oliver Bierhoff.



And the same opinion was German national coach Joachim Loew who said, "There are a few passages in the book which I don't like, because here we have a young player openly criticising his trainer after they have worked together successfully for a long time."



"We will talk about this together next week," Loew added.



The autobiography has come in for heavy criticism by numerous Bundesliga coaches who cannot understand how Lahm could simply write such a book.

Magath returns to Wolfsburg

The coaches merry-go round in the German Bundesliga reached a new climax after rumours came out last night that Felix Magath could make a shock return to former club VfL Wolfsburg. And today that rumour was confirmed by the north German club who are funded and supported by car giants Volkswagen, but are fighting against relegation this season.

The club in a simple statement said, "VfL Wolfsburg has hired Felix Magath as director of sport and coach. The official presentation will take place on Friday at midday."

Struggling Wolfsburg could never recover from their 2008/09 Bundesliga championship season under Magath. Thereafter coaches Armin Veh, Steve McClaren and stand-in Pierre Littbarski all failed and the Wolves are now second from bottom in a very tight relegation battle.

With the surprise appointment of 57 year old Magath the club will hope that the champion coach can steady the ship before rebuilding the club and squad next season. Magath has signed a contract until 2013 and sports manager Dieter Hoeness would also have to leave the club with all powers back to Magath, who only had been sacked at Schalke on Wednesday after differences with the board.

Schalke 04 dismiss Magath

The supervisory board of German Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04 met early yesterday and decided to relieve Felix Magath of his positions as coach, director of sports and management board member within the club. Originally it had been planned that Magath would meet the supervisory board, but Magath called off his attendence as he seemed to know what was in store for him.

And the timing does surprise many as Schalke have reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League, the German Cup final, but are only tenth in the Bundesliga. But off field matters were behind the sacking.

Schalke chairman Clemens Tonnies said after the meeting there were "very good reasons" for the move, but he did not specify what they were. And added, "We will not make these public as a legal battle is now ahead of us. But we are very relaxed about this process. What we have decided is a good result for Schalke."

And now the whole story could get murky with the club trying to frame their coach in such a way that they will not have to make the necessary pay-off as Magath had a contract running until 2013 with the Ruhr valley team. Magath meanwhile has resigned from the club citing differences of opinion, while he is said to have a clause in his contract that he can resign and still get paid compensation in the region of 12 million Euros.

The club has meanwhile named a new coach in former Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick, who'll join the club on Monday and will sign a contract until summer 2014. Rangnick had earlier coached Schalke from September 2004 to December 2005 and many thought at the time that this was a wrong decision.

Schalke: Has Magath lost his magic touch?

Felix Magath over the last decade has build a reputation about himself of being a magician as a football coach. Be it at VfB Stuttgart, FC Bayern Munich and especially with VfL Wolfsburg he was able to transform the team into winning units, successful teams, but who all suffered after he left. And why? Simply said the system Magath is laid out for short term, meaning 18 to 24 month success and whatever happens thereafter doesn't really bother him.

Ask in Stuttgart or Wolfsburg, even at Bayern Munich; who needed time to readjust and regroup after Magath left as their coach. Felix Magath joined FC Schalke 04 in summer 2009 with a four year contract and a promise that the Ruhr valley club under him would win their first-ever Bundesliga title, their last German title had been won in 1958. Magath had a sensational first season with the club in which Schake finished second behind Bayern Munich and with this finish expectations have also risen.

But the club is facing financial problems with debts of up to 250 Million Euros and for Schalke under Magath in year two things aren't working out the way he would have hoped and maybe even expected with the club second from last in the Bundesliga with only six points from 10 matches.

Before the season started Magath said, he needs to rebuild his squad ahead of tougher assignments in the UEFA Champions League, while also having to cut down on wage bills. Sounds an interesting, but tough ask. Magath sold most of his defence in Heiko Westermann, Marcelo Bordon and Rafinha; which was last years best defence in the German Bundesliga plus dependable striker Kevin Kurayni, who will assure you 12 to 15 goals per season.

Now on the other side Magath said he needed to bring in players who would fit into his plans and could strengthen the team. But Schalke were late in the transfer market as they aren't able to pay high transfer fees as one thought, so a number of players where brought towards the end of the transfer period, some even after the Bundesliga had started in mid-August. In the end Schalke earned 17 Million Euros from transfers, but paid more then 36 Million Euros for new players amongst them Raul, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and José Manuel Jurado.

After last the successful season the believe of the Schalke management and fans in Magath were massive that this season he could once more pull off some of his magic with the new set of players. Some even dreamt of the championship, but so far the club has done well in the UEFA Champions League, okay in the German Cup to stay in the competition, but they are 17th in the Bundesliga after yesterday's loss against Bayer 04 Leverkusen with only six points from 10 matches.

Yesterday I live watched the Schalke vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen match at the Arena auf Schalke and it was a real tragedy. Schalke didn't seem to have a team on the pitch, while a far from convincing Leverkusen were just a little better to win by a lone goal to worsen the crisis at Schalke. What looked worrying was the fact that there were no positives from the game which could give the club faithfuls any hope that things could change before the winter break. Also the club fans off the field were as lifeless as the team on the field as many left early and there was no real protest against the team and coach. Insiders say a worrying sign for a club which is close to their fans.

Magath also seemed to have no clue what was happening. He even made blunders on the field, e.g. after the break attacking midfielder Ivan Rakitic was put into the left back position in place of the injured Lukas Schmitz and he looked totally out of sorts. For Magath and Schalke it will be a steep mountain to climb as relegation could put the clubs existence at stake and last seasons relegation of Hertha BSC Berlin should be a warning.

International Match Date - International Anger?

The date August 11, 2010 is causing a lot of international debate then that date is an official FIFA international match day. This means that only a month after the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup the world football governing body has fixed a match date with most World Cuppers just back at their clubs and then off again for international duty.

Especially here in Germany the issue has made headline news with Germany to travel to Copenhagen to face Denmark on August 11. Top coaches Louis van Gaal and Felix Magath have questioned the logic behind such a friendly date in August with players preparing for the long season ahead. And it is a question which can be asked by affected club coaches. Van Gaal had eight players in the German squad plus another five player with different national teams and has been lamenting that he has difficulties in pre-season preparations with most of his first eleven still not in training.

The Club vs. Country debate goes on around the planet, but the Bayern Munich coach does have a point here. A few days ago van Gaal said, "The players return on August 2 and then they must go away again on international duty on August 9. That simply cannot be the case, it’s nonsense."
"If FIFA are a little reasonable, they would take this date out so soon after a World Cup. I hope that Mr Sepp Blatter listens to us, because this just cannot happen."

If the FIFA president is listening isn't known. But surely such a date don't really help the players, who often will go into such matches without any motivation. A different date later in the football calendar year would be more suitable, but many will say an international match date less would be good. One will see if anything happens...