Sport Bild Report: While Werder execs back Baumann, supervisory board remains divided
After suffering their first relegation in 41 years, SV Werder Bremen appear prepared to stick with sporting director Frank Baumann as the man to plan for the second division.
Germany's Sport Bild nevertheless reports that the club supervisory board is not 100 percent behind the 45-year-old former Werder professional.
SV Werder Bremen's historic relegation from the Bundesliga on Saturday came courtesy of an epic collapse in which the team went winless through their final 10 league fixtures. Few saw it coming. Speaking on Germany's famed footballing roundtable "Doppelpass" on Sunday, sporting director Frank Baumann still insisted that the club had plans in place in the event of a drop out of the top flight.
Germany's Sport Bild nevertheless reports that the club supervisory board is not 100 percent behind the 45-year-old former Werder professional.
"I'm prepared to implement the plan we have made for this track," Baumann said. Asked if club chairman Marco Bode had lost confidence in him, Baumann responded that he had heard nothing of the sort. CEO Klaus Filbry also later backed Baumann on another program, "NRD Sportclub" on Sunday evening.
"It is the precise wish of the supervisory board that we tackle the tasks of the coming weeks with the current constellation [of executives]," Filbry noted.
Baumann's current contract, extended just this past December, runs until 2022. Journalists at Germany's main sporting tabloid nevertheless report that the board is split on the former player's future.
Bode and two other members are unnamed board members are in favor of retaining Baumann, while Thomas Krohne and Kurt Zech are said to favor his expulsion. Sport Bild claims that two other unnamed members presently "waffle" on the 45-year-old's future.
It is generally expected that Baumann will at least be given an opportunity to propose a new head-coach and present a plan for which high-price players he wishes to sell. One can reasonably expect the nine board members to come to a consensus after this agenda is laid bare.
Bode and others face their next election in September. Those planning to stand for the board have already published public missives condemning the club's leadership.