Report: Multiple Schalke players call for Groß' removal
Various media reports have surfaced in the past week claiming that several Schalke professionals voiced a desire no longer to play for head-coach Christian Groß.
German footballing magazine Kicker cites internal sources to verify the rumors, yet emphasizes that another coaching change remains extremely unlikely.
Last week's humiliating defeat in the 98th Revierderby was evidently the last straw for several footballers donning the royal blue of Gelsenkirchen. In the Thursday print edition of Germany's Kicker, a story appeared suggesting that many of the club's players are critical of their current gaffer, his training management, and squad selection.
German footballing magazine Kicker cites internal sources to verify the rumors, yet emphasizes that another coaching change remains extremely unlikely.
Confronted with these issues, club media communications director Marc Siekmann acknowledged that there had been a great deal of internal frustration after the derby defeat. The executive nevertheless denied that anything resembling a full-fledged revolt was taking place.
"There was no player who approached [sporting director] Jochen Schneider with such a concern," Siekmann told the magazine, "That there was frustration after the derby defeat is quite clear. However, there was no such thing as a 'revolt' or 'revolution'."
Schalke's hopes of escaping relegation this season presently stand very dim indeed. The Königsblauen sit nine points off the relegation playoff spot. A fifth head-coaching change of the season, initiated by a sporting director who has already announced that he would be departing at the end of the campaign, would appear tantamount to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
The Kicker article still stands by its sources to report that key actors within the squad no longer wish to play for Groß.