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Tim Walter in the HSV game against Hannover
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Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
Hamburger SV has parted ways with its coach Tim Walter, the club confirmed. The 48-year-old has to leave the third-place team in the 2nd Bundesliga after a good two and a half years, Sky first reported. HSV suffered its third home defeat in a row at the hands of Hannover on Friday, and on Sunday its competitor Holstein Kiel overtook them in the table.
The six-time German champions have already failed five times in their attempt to get promoted back to the first league. After the sporting misdevelopment of the past few months, the HSV management apparently sees the danger of missing their big goal this season too.
"After the disappointing home defeat against Hannover 96, we carried out a situation analysis and came to the decision that we had to make a change in order not to jeopardize our goals for the season," HSV board member Jonas Boldt was quoted as saying in a statement. The fluctuations in performance in recent games were too great and there was a lack of “full conviction that we will achieve the necessary balance and stability in our game in this constellation over the next few weeks.”
Walter thanked the club and fans
"I would have liked to have contributed further to achieving our season goal together," said Walter himself. "I would like to thank HSV, the office and the extraordinary fans for more than two and a half years of great cooperation."
Before Christmas, Walter had already been on the brink. Then he received another order from Boldt and sports director Claus Costa to stabilize his team. But eight goals conceded in the first two home games of the new year against Karlsruher SC (3:4) and Hannover 96 (3:4) were apparently too many.
Walter moved to HSV in the summer of 2021. In the past 40 years, there have only been three coaches in Hamburg who have stayed longer: Ernst Happel (1981-1987), Benno Möhlmann (1992-1995) and Frank Pagelsdorf (1997-2001).
ngo/dpa