Timo Schultz talks about his short time at FC Basel in the podcast "from Coach to Coach" - and describes the months on the banks of the Rhine as "completely chaotic". The former FCB coach particularly emphasizes the difficult working conditions.
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- Timo Schultz describes his short time at FC Basel as chaotic and says that in the end he could only laugh about the conditions. Despite warnings about the club, he deliberately took the plunge.
- Schultz blames the many transfer movements for the failure. There were 39 squad changes in three months, which is why at times there were almost only junior players in training.
- Nevertheless, the German believes that something successful could have been created at FCB in the long term. The time was too short, however, as Basel quickly lost patience after a weak start to the season.
Timo Schultz spent almost twenty years at FC St. Pauli, first as a player and later as a coach. He even achieved legendary status at the Kiez club - so much so that thousands of fans took action by collecting signatures when he was sacked in December 2022.
The leave of absence at St. Pauli enabled the East Frisian to take up his first engagement abroad in Basel in the summer of 2023. However, his chapter in Switzerland quickly came to an end after eleven games.
Those responsible around sporting director Heiko Vogel - his compatriot also became his successor - and president David Degen reacted to the sporting slump. In the Super League, Basel picked up just five points in their first seven games, leaving them in 9th place, level on points with bottom-placed Lausanne.
It was the worst start to a season since the Super League was introduced a good 20 years ago. In addition, FCB were eliminated in the qualifiers for the Conference League against the modest Kazakh representative Tobol Kostanai.
Three months of chaos
Taking time off is part of the business, says Schultz in the podcast "from Coach to Coach". In St. Pauli, the feeling was much worse than in Basel - "where it came to an end after three months after a completely chaotic time and where I myself actually just had to laugh at the end of it all," Schultz sums up.
Basel was certainly a "bold move" - "so out of ten people, eight said to me: 'Wow, don't do that, it's total chaos'. That turned out to be true." Nevertheless, Basel is a great club where people like David Degen only want the best and to be successful.
The reason for the failure is clear in his view: "There were 39 squad mutations (departures or arrivals) in the three months," says Schultz. Although 60 million was raised during the transfer period (including Zeki Amdouni - editor's note), "I more or less trained with the U17s or U19s - on Thursday, a whole host of players came and said: 'Coach, I'm not playing at the weekend because I've signed elsewhere and will be leaving the club soon'."
"It's very special in Basel"
Accordingly, it was a time when you couldn't work as a coach at all because players were suddenly being sold. "After three weeks, my wife said: 'This is more like a hidden camera than professional football work'."
In the last week of the transfer period, a few good players were signed. "But then I was gone ten days later. That was a shame. I would have liked to have worked longer," Schultz looks back.
He believes that his chapter could have ended successfully despite the omens. "I was of the same opinion as David Degen on many things, such as processes or evaluations of personnel," says Schultz, who had "fun despite everything" at the Rheinknie.
Schultz summarizes: "We didn't have a good start to the season and then it happens relatively quickly in Basel that coaches are sacked." It didn't work out with successor Heiko Vogel either, according to Schultz. "He was also sacked after just a few games. It's very special in Basel. Something really good could have happened in the long term, but the time was simply too short," emphasizes the 48-year-old, who is currently under contract with German third-division club VfL Osnabrück.
