Kasper Hjulmand has been sacked as coach of Mainz after only seven months in charge of the German Bundesliga club. His place has been taken by former reserve team coach Martin Schmidt, who was to lead training for the first time this morning.
"Anybody who knows our club's philosophy and way of working will know how hard this decision was for us to take," said Mainz's general manager Christian Heidel on the club's website. "Kasper is a football expert who, without a doubt, can develop and further his teams. However, there were many factors which had led to a negative trend in these last 13 matches and led to us sliding towards the relegation zone."
Hjulmand's reign could hardly have got off to a worse start with elimination in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League to Asteras Tripolis and an embarrassing defeat in the first round of the DFB-Pokal to Chemnitz. He was already under pressure before the Bundesliga season commenced, but an eight-game unbeaten start raised hopes of another European campaign.
Mainz have won just one of their 13 matches since then, however, and are now just a point above the bottom three, after losing 4-2 at Borussia Dortmund on Friday night. "In a relegation battle, the criteria is different and that has led to us making a change of coach," continued Heidel.
"To survive we need, in addition to tactical discipline, great passion and fighting spirit, aggression and incision, which are to be developed in training and must be shown by our team in games and be able to get the club and fans all pulling in the same direction.
"That is why we are putting our faith in Martin Schmidt, who has known the club, the team and our style of play for almost five years. We are convinced that he, together with (assistant coach) Bo Svensson, will be able to give the team back the spark they have been lacking in recent weeks and months. I informed Kasper of our decision in a one-to-one meeting on Monday. We would like to wish him and his family all the best for the future."
Swiss coach Schmidt moved to Mainz from Thun in 2010. "Of course this is a big step for me now to be in charge of a Bundesliga team, but I don't feel like I'm being thrown in at the deep end," he said.
"I've been close to the team and the coaches in recent years and I know how things work, so I'm well prepared by this. We've now got a lot of work to do and we can't waste any time."
Source: FIFA.com