The Danish coach Bo Henriksen should make Mainz cheer again.
Photo: imago/Geisser
It almost seems as if FSV Mainz 05 doesn’t want the Bundesliga’s relegation battle to take a back seat at the Festival of Fools. On Shrove Monday, at the climax of the merrymaking spectacle that took place around Mainz Cathedral, the club announced its separation from coach Jan Siewert, and on Shrove Tuesday the self-proclaimed carnival club already announced its successor: Bo Henriksen is the name of the third coach who still has this magical season should bring a good ending.
As is well known, Bo Svensson had already failed in the first half of the season for the Rheinhessen team, despite his high popularity ratings, because bad luck with injuries, poor finishing and self-doubt had formed a disastrous mixture. Now a Danish compatriot with the same first name is supposed to prevent the crash after 15 years of continuous membership in the first division. A crazy idea?
Sports director Christian Heidel said soberly on Tuesday: “We have intensively analyzed which type of coach with which footballing approach suits us in this difficult situation.” Henriksen is a coach “who has succeeded repeatedly in his career and under very different conditions.” to shape.” He played “pragmatic, but also courageous and ultimately successful football.”
The 49-year-old worked for lower-class clubs in his homeland for a long time before causing a stir as runner-up with FC Midtjylland in 2022. Shortly afterwards, he took over FC Zurich as bottom of the table, which has since matured back into a top team in Swiss football. Nevertheless, the coach announced last weekend that he did not want to extend his expiring contract. This fact presumably made the lightning change from third in the Super League to penultimate in the Bundesliga possible for a small fee.
Henriksen, who has a contract that runs until 2026, is already the third Dane to be a head coach at Mainz within a decade. In 2014, the club chose current Danish national coach Kasper Hjulmand as Thomas Tuchel’s successor, but he didn’t really warm to the German upper house – and was succeeded by current sports director Martin Schmidt after less than a season. The Dane Svensson, who developed in his own club, orchestrated a fabulous comeback three years ago. When the identification figure took office, the situation was as hopeless as it is today. Under their former player, the Mainz team scored an incredible 32 points in the second half of the 2020/2021 season and managed to stay in the league.
Henriksen, who will face a fellow countryman on his debut at home against Augsburg on Saturday, is expected to achieve a similar feat: Jess Thorup has stabilized the Bavarian Swabians as quickly as Heidel would like his hopefuls to do. Henriksen is “a very emotional, open and opinionated character who radiates positive energy and will fit in very well with Mainz 05,” praised the sports director, who perhaps hopes that history will now repeat itself: In 2001, Eckhard Krautzun was also on Rose Monday by the then Player Jürgen Klopp replaced on the bench. He immediately won his first game against MSV Duisburg and then went from success to success until he played in the Bundesliga with Mainz.
Not everyone gets stories like that. Siewert in particular was not suitable for higher tasks. The football teacher, who was promoted from the U23, seemed too cautious to give the professional team more energy and the necessary offensive quality to stay in the league. Ultimately, there seemed to be no alternative to pulling the ripcord after eleven games without a win. It is questionable whether Mainz will get the turn right now. For the very unsettled ensemble in the snail’s race to the bottom of the table with Darmstadt and 1. FC Köln, the only thing that initially seems realistic is relegation.
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