Stuttgart axe Gross on brink of Schalke tie
Why do football clubs always make sackings at the least convenient time? Stuttgart boss Christian Gross was the latest to be axed this afternoon, but why now, rather than ten days ago when the Bundesliga's bottom club lost their sixth game of the season at home to Frankfurt?
Had they ditched the former Tottenham boss after that setback, they would have had 13 days to hire a successor ahead of a monster of a match away to the team directly above them, fellow surprise strugglers Schalke, last year's runners-up.
By waiting until 72 hours before the huge clash, the 2006-07 champions have been forced to put assistant Jens Keller, who has no prior managerial experience at a senior level, in caretaker charge.
Showcasing Stuttgart's almost impressive ability to trip themselves up, that isn't even the most farcical element of the decision to sack a man who picked up the joint-most points of any Bundesliga coach following his arrival last December, after they had started the 2009-10 campaign similarly shambolically.
Nope, the biggest joke is that the side's director of sport Fredi Bobic was quoted in the immediate aftermath of that Frankfurt defeat saying: "For me, there are no question marks over the coach. We will only come out of this together, everyone together. The coach, the players and me - the whole team."
The chaotic situation fits perfectly though in what has been a baffling few months for Stuttgart, whose one league victory in amongst the six reverses was a 7-0 thumping of Borussia Monchengladbach, while they are also unbeaten in six European outings, leading Europa League Group H.
They're expected to lose their six-pointer on Saturday in Gelsenkirchen, with Schalke currently [2.12] to end their near six-month wait for a home league win, whereas Stuttgart are [3.8] outsiders.
Published: 13 Oct 2010
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