Mainz managing director vows not to resign, says coach and more transfers are coming
The "to-do" list at chaotic FSV Mainz 05 remains unenviable. Under heavy fire from fans and the media, the club's chief executive firmly says he can get it done amid all the turmoil.
Forty-four-year-old Mainz sporting director Roven Schröder understandably hasn't been getting much sleep lately. A chaotic mid-week training boycott led to the dismissal of trainer Achim Beierlorzer after only ten months.
Beierlorzer's firing leaves the club without a coach to lead the team in spite of the fact that they still technically have two trainers on the payroll. Mainz still sends checks to the departed Sandro Schwarz, whom Schröder dismissed after eleven rounds in the previous campaign.
Schröder currently comes under heavy criticism at the Bruchweg for mismanaging the club's trainer contracts, underestimating the disposition of the team prior to the boycott, and improperly negotiating salary waivers with his players during the COVID crisis. Reports now surface suggesting that the players are indeed upset about deferred wages they were promised during lockdown.
Amid all of this, Schröder remains defiant that he will not resign. "I am a person who moves forward," he told the media on Wednesday, "I live this club. I will not give up. I'm a fighter. I always have been."
Schröder has apparently received the backing of the board. Chairmen Steffen Hoffmann recently said as much publicly, stating, "We believe that [Schröder] is a very good executive for Mainz 05."
The exhausted managing director has much to do in the next five days. A deal to sell defender Ridle Baku is reportedly done, but the fate of the remaining four players Schröder has publicly put on the market remains uncertain.
For his part, Schröder has insisted that he can still pull off several more deals while targeting a new trainer in the coming days. "There is a high probability that something will happen before the end of the transfer window," Schröder divulged.