Schalke 04 part-ways with David Wagner after eighteen game winless run

09/27/2020

Schalke 04 have sacked David Wagner as their head coach effective immediately with no replacement with Ralf Rangnick linked as a replacement. The Bundesliga side opened their 2020/21 season with an 8-0 loss to Bayern Munich before extending the run to 18 games with a loss to Werder Bremen.

Having being appointed last summer, many expected David Wagner to work wonders for Schalke which the former Huddersfield boss did. But the impact of the coronavirus and the club’s form post-January 2020, has seen them drop not just out of top-six contention but drop into a mid-table position with their place in the Bundesliga in danger. Not only that, it saw the club start this season with a sixteen game winless run which had many concerned.

But while Schalke kept faith in their head coach to start the new season things have changed with the club conceding eleven goals in their opening two games to extend the run to 18. It has seen the Royal Blues confirmed that they’ve parted ways with David Wagner although no replacement has been announced as of yet. Former RB Leipzig man Ralf Rangnick is said to be a top candidate although Schalke confirmed that Wagner and his back-room staff have been sacked.

"We all hoped that we'd be able to achieve the sporting turnaround together with David Wagner. Sadly, we did not get the results and performances needed for it on the first two match days. We therefore decided to go the path of a new beginning, personnel-wise. Despite the disappointing results this was far from an easy decision for us. I can only thank David Wagner, Christoph Buhler and Frank Nohling who gave it their all to get Schalke back on the tracks until the day of their release," Schalke sporting executive Jochen Schneider said.