BUNDESLIGA
Darmstadt's Meier becomes 5th Bundesliga coach to be sacked
Norbert Meier was dismissed on Monday following Darmstadt 98's 2-0 defeat against Hamburg.
Crisis talks
Norbert Meier was dismissed on Monday following Darmstadt 98's 2-0 defeat to Hamburg.
After crisis talks earlier in the day, Darmstadt 98 took the unusual measure of firing Meier and Sports Director Holger Fach after a run of six straight defeats - five in the Bundesliga and one in the German Cup. Sunday's home defeat to fellow relegation battlers Hamburg was the final straw for club directors, swayed to make a decision as fans shouted “Meier out!” during the match.
“After an analysis, we came to the conclusion that we need new impulses to counteract the negative trend. That's why we decided to take this step club president Rüdiger Fritsch explained.
Caretaker role
Youth academy Sports Director Ramon Berndroth will oversee Saturday's away game against Freiburg in a caretaker capacity as Darmstadt prepare to host Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich on 18 December.
Meier, a former West Germany international, had only been in charge since 1 July when he replaced Dirk Schuster, who had taken the team from the third division to Germany's top flight before leaving to coach Augsburg. But his appointment failed to live up to expectation with Darmstadt winning just two of their 13 league games so far this term. The team is currently languishing third from bottom on eight points, just ahead of Hamburg and Ingolstadt.
Meier is the fifth coach to have been handed his marching orders in the German top flight this season, following Viktor Skrypnyk (Werder Bremen), Bruno Labbadia (Hamburg), Dieter Hecking (Wolfsburg) and Markus Kauczinski (Ingolstadt).