The behavior of those responsible at 1. FC Köln these days resembles that of the players on the pitch. Slowly, deliberately and constantly surprised by developments, the board and management are planning the coming season
Officially, the first two players have left the club, Jeff Chabot was bid farewell to Stuttgart with flowery words (and for a transfer fee of around four million euros), attacker Justin Diehl – after all, 13 years at the club, he too is moving to VfB – was given a rather fleeting thank you from the youth department.
What remains is uncertainty. Is a new coach being sought? So far, the unfortunate Timo Schultz has not been dismissed. It is said that Keller would like to keep him. No talks have been held with Christian Eichner, who is currently on vacation. The KSC coach, formerly a professional in Cologne, where his daughter was born, would be a charming solution. Eichner proved to have a knack for improving both individual players and the team in Karlsruhe.
The Kölner Stadtanzeiger speculates that managing director Christian Keller will be partially disempowered in the coaching personnel decision and writes of a “clear restriction: Keller will now have to recognize that he is not the sole decision-maker in all relevant matters at 1. After the solo negotiations with Olimpija Ljubljana and numerous wrong personnel decisions, the bosses are obviously no longer prepared to let Keller decide on the future of the coaching position alone and against their convictions.” The question is what Keller’s pronounced ego will allow in the face of this development.
So it remains exciting in Cologne, where they will start preparing for the new season in around three weeks’ time. The only certainty so far is uncertainty. Unless, of course, the people in charge manage to pull off one coup after another in the space of a few days
