Veh out
March 13, 2011
Hamburg sacked their coach Armin Veh on Sunday, March 13, after Saturday's humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich proved a defeat too many for the club's board.
Veh had announced in midweek that he planned to quit at the end of the season, citing internal problems at the club, but Sunday's emergency management meeting resulted in his immediate sacking. Hamburg were beaten 4-2 at home by Mainz last weekend.
Assistant coach Michael Oenning is set to take over the helm of eighth-placed Hamburg till the end of the season and will be assisted by former player Rodolfo Cardoso.
"After announcing he will leave at the end of the season and in light of the results from our last two games, we have decided to cut our ties and part company with Armin Veh," said Hamburg's sports director Bastian Reinhardt.
50-year-old Veh arrived in Hamburg in May 2010 and had a contract until 2012. A former coach with Wolfsburg, he also led Stuttgart to the German league title in 2007.
He was sacked by Stuttgart in November 2008 with his side on the verge of relegation and was later dismissed by Wolfsburg in January 2010 after being in charge for only five months.
Crisis club
Veh is the eighth coach to pass through Hamburg's revolving doors in the past eight seasons, and many blame club chairman Bernd Hoffmann for the instability. But this weekend the crisis heightened to the extent that Hoffmann cut short his skiing holiday.
After Saturday's debacle, goalkeeper Frank Rost attacked Hoffmann in an uncharacteristically public manner.
"At Hamburg, everything is in disorder because so many things are just tolerated and not settled," he told Bundesliga TV show Liga total! "The board put their personal situation, their personal egos before everything."
The 37-year-old veteran expressed anger about what he saw as Hoffmann's lack of support for the club.
"I haven't heard anything from him," Rost said. "He made a turnover of 160 million euros a year – that's success for him."
Reinhardt condemned Rost's outburst.
"He can't keep pouring gas into the fire and damage the club like this," the sports director said. "We'll have to talk to him about that."
Author: Ben Knight (AFP, SID)
Editor: Toma Tasovac