SCHALKE have hired Dimitrios Grammozis as their FIFTH manager of a turbulent season that sees them heading towards relegation.
The once Bundesliga title contenders are last in the table with a mere nine points after 23 league matches and need at least nine more to climb out of the drop zone.
Dimitrios Grammozis has become the fifth manager to coach Schalke this seasonCredit: EPA
The Royal Blues started the season with ex-Huddersfield boss David Wagner in charge.
But Wagner was sacked in September after suffering a club record 18 consecutive league games without a win.
The former Premier League manager was succeeded by Manuel Baum, who only lasted a mere three months.
Huub Stevens stood in as interim coach for two games before Christian Gross took the reins in December.
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Gross didn’t last long either as he got fired late last month along with team coordinator Sascha Riether, lead fitness coach Werner Leuthard and assistant coach Rainer Widmayer.
Little-known Grammozis becomes the fifth manager to sit on the hot seat in Gelsenkirchen.
Schalke’s new sporting director Peter Knabel said: “We are convinced that we have found the right coach in Dimitrios Grammozis for the last third of the season.”
Grammozis made 143 Bundesliga appearances for the likes of Hamburg, Kaiserslautern and Cologne during his playing days.
But the German-born Greek is just climbing up the ranks as a manager as he started out by coaching Bochum’s youth teams, graduated to assistant coach with the senior team and then took over at second-division Darmstadt for a year.
The seven-time German champions are plagued by turmoil this season which has been marred with dressing room drama, player suspensions, injury crises, shocking dismissals and a financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
