Schalke’s belated Christmas present in 2020 was a 66-year-old who hadn’t managed in Europe for a decade.
THE APPOINTMENT:
– On 27 December 2020, Schalke appointed Christian Gross as their fourth head coach of the 2020-21 season, with sporting director Jochen Schneider citing his record “in both Germany and England”
– Gross, 66, was best known in England for arriving at his 1997 Tottenham unveiling brandishing a London Underground travelcard, calling it his “ticket to the dreams” – 23 years before joining Schalke
– His genuinely outstanding managerial spell was at FC Basel (1999-2009): four Swiss league titles and a 2002-03 Champions League campaign that eliminated reigning Scottish champions Celtic on away goals and beat Juventus 2-1 in their final group match
– His last job in European top-flight football before Schalke was at Stuttgart, ending in October 2010 – just over ten years earlier; his most recent role of any kind, in Saudi Arabia, had ended that same February
THE DEBUT:
– Gross’s first match in charge, on 2 January 2021, was a 3-0 defeat at Hertha Berlin
– Outside the Olympiastadion, fans of long-forgotten club Tasmania Berlin held banners reading “Save the record for Tasmania!” — desperate to protect their 55-year-old record of 31 consecutive games without a Bundesliga win, set in 1965-66
– Schalke’s run now stood at 30 games without a win – one short of the all-time mark
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