Hoffenheim have sacked manager Markus Babbel after the former Liverpool player presided over the worst start to a Bundesliga season in the club's entire history.
Babbel got the axe after the German club's 4-1 home defeat to Werder Bremen at the weekend, a result that capped a horrible run of six defeats in nine games.
Announcing the move on Monday, general manager Andreas Muller said:
"I have decided, after careful consideration and in consultation with the management and the shareholders, to make a change.
"Our increasingly threatening situation and the associated negative trends meant we had no choice. We had the chance to turn things around, but we did not find any answers, and so it is normal to take those measures."
A 2-1 defeat home defeat to Sami Hyypia's Bayer Leverkusen last weekend left Hoffenheim club languishing in the relegation zone, and the club just couldn't recover.
After that game, Babbel knew the writing was on the wall, and he predicted his own imminent demise. He told Reporters:
"I know the business; I've been around long enough. Either you are a good coach or a bad coach, and right now I'm a bad coach...and judgements are quick to be made when the results are poor"
In an interview with Bild in July, Babbel candidly revealed that his ultimate goal is to become the manager of Liverpool. He said:
"It's been a dream of mine to someday become the manager of Liverpool FC. The city, the fans and of course the club are great. I'm 39 and hopefully have years of coaching ahead of me, but I need to be able to demonstrate management success. Of course, all of this is still quite far away, but I think about it daily".
Now that he's a free agent, perhaps there's scope for Babbel to work in a coaching capacity under Brendan Rodgers at Anfield?
Jaimie Kanwar
Babbel got the axe after the German club's 4-1 home defeat to Werder Bremen at the weekend, a result that capped a horrible run of six defeats in nine games.
Announcing the move on Monday, general manager Andreas Muller said:
"I have decided, after careful consideration and in consultation with the management and the shareholders, to make a change.
"Our increasingly threatening situation and the associated negative trends meant we had no choice. We had the chance to turn things around, but we did not find any answers, and so it is normal to take those measures."
A 2-1 defeat home defeat to Sami Hyypia's Bayer Leverkusen last weekend left Hoffenheim club languishing in the relegation zone, and the club just couldn't recover.
After that game, Babbel knew the writing was on the wall, and he predicted his own imminent demise. He told Reporters:
"I know the business; I've been around long enough. Either you are a good coach or a bad coach, and right now I'm a bad coach...and judgements are quick to be made when the results are poor"
In an interview with Bild in July, Babbel candidly revealed that his ultimate goal is to become the manager of Liverpool. He said:
"It's been a dream of mine to someday become the manager of Liverpool FC. The city, the fans and of course the club are great. I'm 39 and hopefully have years of coaching ahead of me, but I need to be able to demonstrate management success. Of course, all of this is still quite far away, but I think about it daily".
Now that he's a free agent, perhaps there's scope for Babbel to work in a coaching capacity under Brendan Rodgers at Anfield?
Jaimie Kanwar
Why?
ReplyDeleteGraeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish actually won trophies as managers, and plenty of them, and you don't want them, but you want a manager who has put a team in a relegation scrap on the staff?
Please stop twisting my words. Where did I say 'I want Babbel to come to Anfield'?
ReplyDeleteI said 'maybe there is scope' for him to return to LFC; it's a general question, it's not my personal view.
you should be a politician Jamie they amount of U-turns and useless info you grind out on a daily basis!!!
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, so far, Babbel's track record hasn't been that great. He managed to rally the troops at Stuttgart for six months and got sacked in what was supposed to be his first full season, got sacked at Hertha after not even a half season of Bundesliga football and now has been sacked at Hoffenheim after a similar course as he had at Stuttgart. IMO he's just not manager material and managing Liverpool will stay a dream for the rest of his life. Much like playing for Liverpool is for a lot of us but at least he got to live that dream :-)
ReplyDeleteDont need anymore failure's at the club thanks!
ReplyDeleteI agree.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Reading failure in the Club at the moment
Jimmy, why do you seem to take pleasure in the failings of past and present Liverpool players?
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware Rodgers couldn't read......
ReplyDelete!
Babbel convincingly lead Hertha to promotion, then was dismissed half a year later under very controversial circumstances, when he and the Hertha CEO accused each other of publicly lying about the status of Babbel's contract extension negotiations.
ReplyDeleteUp until then Babbel was doing very well (Hertha was 11th or so when he left, got relegated under the new manager afterwards). Indeed Hertha wanted to extent his contract, but Babbel didn't want to stay. That resulted in him being sacked, so it most definitely was not for sporting reasons.
In Hoffenheim, on the very first competitive fixture he quite inexplicibly lost in the German Cup to a team from the 4th German division by 0-4. Then one of Hoffenheim's players had a terrible car crash, which he only just survived. Both incidents would have had a strong negative effect on the team, which contributed to the bad run of results I believe.
Babbel is a fine manager IMHO. Would be glad to have him playing a role at Anfield at some point in the future. He is a natural born winner with a lot of integrity. Remember that he was in such a good standing at LFC, that he got a contract extension as a player in a time where his life was threatened by an illness and he was actually unable to play for the club. You don't do that with people you do not value ...
What is your view?
ReplyDeleteWhat is your view???????????
ReplyDelete11th is not that great is it? And I think they were sixteenth. Either way, not that great an achievement. As for his time at Hoffenheim, losing 4-0 to lower league opposition is always failure, so is the teams current league position. Hannover 96 had to deal with their first goalkeeper's suicide a couple of years back and they finished the season fantastically. Most likely because their manager was able to get the team to find strength in numbers to overcome a tragedy and pay tribute to their team mate. As for your final comment, I didn't say I don't value Babbel as a player. As a matter of fact, I think he's one of the best right backs we've had even though he wasn't at his best anymore when he came to us. But as a manager, you're right, I don't value him and I think there are a lot of better coaches out there than him to bring to the club. As a matter of fact, I think Carra will be one of them within the next two years.
ReplyDeleteNo thats Harry at QPR :)
ReplyDelete