Sportklub Niederösterreich St. Pölten is recalling its name. Even envoy Jan Schlaudraff thinks only secondarily about VfL Wolfsburg: “We can’t do wild things. We are here in the second division in Austria. “
After the departure of general manager Andreas Blumauer, the new managing directors Jan Schlaudraff (sport) and Matthias Gebauer (business) are turning SKN St. Pölten upside down. The dual leadership dares a joint balancing act. Schlaudraff stands for closer networking with VfL Wolfsburg, Gebauer primarily looks after the finances of the struggling Bundesliga relegation team and wants to “regain the trust in the club” among stakeholders and fans, especially in Lower Austria.
“We will fill the cooperation with VfL Wolfsburg with more life in all areas than in the last few months,” promises Schlaudraff, meaning above all “networking in the areas of marketing, communication and sport”. In January, however, no other VfL loanees will (yet) follow Lino Kasten, Yoon-Sang Hong and Ulysses Llanez to the SKN.
Pressing asked
Schlaudraff will not interfere in the daily training work of Stephan Helm and Emanuel Pogatetz. The 38-year-old will certainly make sure that a “high, intensive pressing” is played in general, even with the “Juniors”, the club’s fourth-class second team.
For Schlaudraff, SKN is a “training club, the players should see us as a springboard” and also wants a closer connection to the St. Pölten Academy, which has brought out players like Florian Grillitsch, Christoph Baumgartner, Leo Greiml and Robert Ljubicic. But Schlaudraff also emphasises straight away: “At the moment, we are not in a position to be able to afford the academy. “
SKN President Helmut Schwarzl hopes to be able to generate transfer revenues in the future and for an extension of the partnership with main sponsor “spusu”. The mobile phone provider will only remain on board if the team is immediately promoted again. Otherwise, negotiations will have to be renegotiated. Gebauer will hold initial talks in January.
At the start of training on Wednesday, four players were absent due to corona. Pogatetz described the others as being in “very satisfactory conditions” after the sports motor performance tests.
Much need for personnel action
Following veteran Christoph Riegler, Daniel Drescher and Christoph Halper, Fabian Steininger and Mario Vucenovic are leaving the club. Niklas Streimelweger (SC Neusiedl) is a new addition. Jaden Montnor was brought up from the Juniors. Lukas Pipp and Marcel Pemmer are also training with the professionals for the time being.
Schlaudraff sees a need for action especially at the left centre-back position. David Riegler, a right-footed player, has been playing there most of the time. In addition, Halper needs to be replaced in the centre and the wings need to be improved in the offensive.
Schlaudraff knows that “we can’t do anything wild here. We have to adapt to the financial circumstances,… We are in the second league in Austria. He himself will probably be able to visit the team again at the training camp in Wolfsburg, but is currently in quarantine.