This week, Steffen Baumgart has entered a terrain in which some danger lurks, but the coach of 1. FC Köln demands courageous decisions from his players.
So he sets a good example.
First of all, before the game against RB Leipzig (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) this Saturday, he formulated a clear criticism of the Cologne icon Lukas Podolski, who had once again pointed out that FC had been for years the attempt to develop its potential fails.
That was right, Baumgart said, but only to immediately scratch Podolski's image: “It is also a fact that he was part of it. When he was here, the club didn't develop any further. ”And when the coach was finally in full swing, he accused the city of being unwilling to cooperate in the expansion of the club's premises. "In terms of infrastructure, we are way below some second division clubs, that makes me think," he said. He has the feeling that those responsible in politics and in the authorities "distinguish themselves by being against many things and not offering any solutions."
That was a blow against the Greens, the strongest faction in the city council, which rejects the project.
However, the topic is highly complex and has a long history, during which not only the city but also the association appeared unwilling to compromise.
Baumgart cannot possibly know all the details after a few weeks in the city, but his message is clear: This man wants to make a difference at FC.
Beyond the sporting work, he wants to “try to develop everything here”.
Most FC fans will applaud Baumgart for his little excursion into politics, but he will have lost sympathy with a number of Cologne residents.
But that shouldn't matter to him after more and more hearts have flown to him recently.
"A little bit of football"
The team is in seventh place in the table with seven points and plays rousing offensive football. Even the hero Anthony Modeste, who has been rather unsuccessful for years, is flourishing again. In connection with the 49-year-old Baumgart from Rostock, terms such as faith, courage and emotions appear again and again, and in fact this friend of the open word seems to touch many people differently than most of his predecessors. However, it would be wrong to reduce Baumgart to his charisma and his emotionalizing effect. "It may surprise one or the other now, but I have the feeling that I also have a little knowledge of football," he said this week.
Baumgart is not only a personality, but also an opinionated specialist. On Thursday he amazed his audience with the thesis that the victory against RB Leipzig in April under Friedhelm Funkel, which was a landmark for staying in class, was just a "coincidence". "It had nothing to do with skill," he said. At the time, the FC defeated an individually better team with a lot of dedication and the classic attitude of the underdog, who first wants to be stable.
But Baumgart dislikes this approach. On the second match day in Munich, the FC continued to play offensively in the final phase with a score of 2: 2 and lost 2: 3, the coach had liked the attitude of his players. Last week in Freiburg, however, Baumgart was annoyed “that the team wanted to defend a 1-0 and not make it 2-0”. It is still unclear where this will lead, but 1. FC Köln with this coach is definitely exciting.