Schalke 04 is once again an easy victim for all mockers these days.

For 13 weeks, those responsible for the promoted team in the Bundesliga have known that they need a new head coach for the coming football season.

So you had a lot of time for all sorts of deliberations and negotiations.

And now, on Tuesday, they presented a man who has neither the reputation of being a great charismatic nor an impressive track record in professional football.

A coach that they could have gotten four weeks ago: Frank Kramer, who was released from Arminia Bielefeld in April.

In view of the many surprised, disappointed or even angry reactions from their own supporters, the sporting management felt compelled to justify this decision.

A year ago, "a new path" was taken, explained sports director Rouven Schröder, in contrast to past eras, today it's about "working together for Schalke 04", by which he meant: A coach at Schalke currently has less power than elsewhere, because it was clear that the assistant staff will remain - first and foremost the popular and influential promotion coach Mike Büskens.

He was looking for coaches "who can and want to work with the whole team," said Schröder.

Apparently, some candidates for the post fell away.

Schalke simply doesn't have the money to exchange employees again and pay severance payments.

"We can't run away from reality," said sports director Peter Knäbel and appealed to the common sense of all those Schalke who, after the total collapse in summer 2021, are already dreaming of climbing up to the phalanx of the Bundesliga top.

"We didn't fall on a trampoline, it was a massive crash.

And the fact that we fixed it in a year shouldn't mean that we climb to the highest heights.” The only goal for the season remains staying in the league, and serious savings are being made both in filling the coaching position and in planning the squad.

Skills wrangling is not to be expected

Kramer, who receives a two-year contract, not only fits into the budget, he is also trusted to cooperate constructively with Büskens.

The 50-year-old from Memmingen is "totally happy" to be able to launch such a joint project with what is probably the most famous assistant coach in the Bundesliga, "because Mike can help me," he explained.

The two know each other from their days together at Greuther Fürth, where Kramer was youth coach, while Büskens was responsible for the professional team between 2009 and 2013.

Sports director Schröder does not believe that there will be a dispute over competence between the boss and the club icon.

"We wanted a head coach who really caters to that exchange," he said.

The hope is that the two will develop into a congenial duo.

Büskens is a guy who wins hearts, while Kramer has a reputation as a football intellectual.

Many of his former players and superiors valued him for his analyses, detailed knowledge and strategic impulses.

The big blemish on Kramer's career is that he has never held a head coaching position for more than two years.

He's still one of those guys who are said to have a lot to offer for a great coaching career, who are innovative, technically up-to-date, likeable and rhetorically good, but whose work doesn't work in the long term.

It is said that he lost the support of his teams several times at some point.

The hope is that his way of working in the constellation with Büskens will bear fruit for longer, especially since Schröder is also present in the dressing room in order to stop alienation processes at an early stage.

After this development, however, it has become less likely that Stefan Ortega will move to Schalke.

The courted goalkeeper played under Kramer in Bielefeld last season and was not among the coach's supporters when the mood in the dressing room darkened.

In addition, Ortega “has a different market value due to his free transfer,” explained Schröder, who nevertheless announced that his transfer work would now pick up speed.

"It's starting, we're busy," said the sports director, but the same applies here: