Replacing a manager in the middle of the season is not exactly ideal, it means a lot has gone wrong and your pre-season plan has been derailed. The best options are most likely not on the market and those in jobs need a lot of convincing to take a risky move during the campaign. However, in the top two tiers of German football, fifteen managerial changes have been made throughout the 2023/24 season, the most recent coming this weekend when Wehen decided to move on from Markus Kauczinski with just three games to go. In a lot of ways, it’s an understandable move. Wehen have been the worst side in the 2. Bundesliga over the rückrunde and fell into the relegation places this weekend, but it is also a huge risk to replace an experienced manager with one of his coaches, Nils Döring, until the end of the season. Döring’s only experience in the top job was as an interim with Wiesbaden back in 2021. Whether it will work or not yet to be seen, but I thought it was a good idea to go back and look at all the other midseason changes to see which were good, which were bad, and which were middling. Interim managers will not be considered here, unless they were named permanent manager afterwards.
The Best: Augsburg replace Enrico Maaßen with Jess Thorup
There wasn’t much doubt in my mind as to who the best managerial replacement has been this season. Augsburg looked like they were in the battle against relegation when they made the move to sack former Dortmund II manager Maaßen in October, and in all fairness, that’s what most of us had expected at the beginning of the season. However, Danish manager Jess Thorup came in and immediately made the side better from his opening 5-2 win against Heidenheim. Thorup’s 1.4 points per game is double Maaßen’s 0.7, which would have been 24 points over the season and certain relegation. Instead, with Thorup, they’re fighting for Europe. A turnaround that drastic really is the best-case scenario, especially considering that Thorup hasn’t made any significant changes to the squad he inherited.
The Good
Mainz replace Jan Siewert with Bo Henriksen
Siewert was a midseason hire of his own and one that we will come back to, but for now, we’ll focus on his replacement. Mainz had been terrible up until matchday 21 of the season, having gained just 12 points in that time. That should be game over in terms of trying to stay up, but with Köln on just 16 points, FSV at the very least had the chance to get into the relegation play-off. Looking further ahead, Union Berlin were 15th on 21 points, meaning Mainz were nine behind complete safety with thirteen to play. I thought the right manager could get Mainz into the play-off, but Henriksen has them fighting to get out of the bottom three entirely. He seems to have injected the squad with energy and self-belief through a managerial style that sometimes reminds me of former Mainz manager Jürgen Klopp. Back in 16th following a draw with Köln this weekend, Mainz are not out of the woods yet, but they have a much better chance of staying up thanks to yet another Danish manager turning their season around.
Eintracht Braunschweig replace Jens Härtel with Daniel Scherning
I know what you’re thinking, ‘Hang on, Daniel Scherning isn’t Danish,’ and you’re right, he’s German, but it turns out that good midseason replacements don’t have to come from the country of Lego and Hans Christian Andersen. I know, I’m just as shocked as you. I wasn’t convinced at the start of the season when Eintracht Braunschweig decided to dismiss Michael Schiele in favour of former Hansa manager Jens Härtel, and my suspicions were proven correct. Through ten games, Braunschweig had just five points and were already seven off safety. They didn’t have any more points on the board when Daniel Scherning took over ahead of matchday 13. Since then, Scherning has picked up 1.5 points per game compared to the 0.4 the side were picking up before him (that’s 14 points over a season). In the interest of fairness, I thought the Scherning hire was a bad one as well thanks to his dismal spell at Arminia Bielefeld. One thing I have learned this season though, if multiple managers fail at a club, it might not be them who’s to blame.
Osnabrück replace Tobias Schweinsteiger with Uwe Koschinat
It was the same thinking that made me concerned when Osnabrück replaced Tobias Schweinsteiger with another former Bielefeld manager in Uwe Koschinat at the end of the same month. Koschinat has definitely not had the same success that Scherning has had with his club, and I’m sure some eyebrows have been raised over placing him this highly considering his team are last in the league. Osnabrück were hopeless before Koschinat, 7 points from 14 is a better return than Braunschweig before their managerial change, but they played worse. His ability to get 18 points from 17 feels like a miracle given the talent of his squad and it’s why VfL have smartly decided to extend his contract despite their almost inevitable relegation. If Osnabrück had Koschinat from the beginning of the season, they might have stayed up, a far cry from what would have happened if they had stuck with Bastian’s brother.
Schalke replace Thomas Reis with Karel Geraerts
The mood at Schalke has been bleak for most of the season, and it’s not necessarily improved since Geraerts took over at the beginning of October, but it feels like Reis would have more likely than not got the side relegated. When he was sacked at the end of September, Reis had led Schalke to 7 points from 7 and 16th in the table. With all the stuff his Belgian replacement has had to deal with since, taking the side out of the drop zone and seeing them five clear of relegation with three to go is impressive. You see that in discourse online, Schalke fans want Geraerts to stay next season because they believe he can take the club forward, he’s most certainly done that so far.
The Meh
Union Berlin replace Urs Fischer with Nenad Bjelica
The decision to move on from Urs Fischer was a seismic one for Union Berlin. He was clearly the best manager the club had ever had and many tears were shed by players, staff, and fans alike when the announcement of his leaving was made. Any manager would struggle to fill those shoes, but Bjelica has at least done somewhat well. Union were bottom of the league with six points from eleven when Fischer left, and only one point and one place higher when the Croat took over. The 24 points in the following 18 games is what’s keeping Union’s heads very slightly above water. That still might not be good enough considering the talent the squad has, and some at Union aren’t convinced by him both due to the manager’s refusal to use video analysis (which is truly stunning in all fairness) and the suspension Bjelica was forced to serve after a confrontation with Bayern’s Leroy Sané. However, the tough pill to swallow is that if Urs Fischer was still at the club, they’d probably be playing in the Zweite next season, they stand more of a chance of staying up with their new manager.
Köln replace Steffen Baumgart with Timo Schultz
For Effzeh this season, it’s felt like the position of manager is the least of their worries. They’ve failed to replace the likes of Anthony Modeste, Ellyes Skhiri, and Jonas Hector, and the transfer ban means they can’t sign anyone new to fill the clear gaps in their team. When Steffen Baumgart decided that he couldn’t turn it around, I thought whoever replaced him was on a hiding to nothing. Schultz’s Billy Goats have been better, the side picked up 11 points in the hinrunde and have 12 in 14 under him, that’s good, but being under a point a game can’t exactly be hailed as a success regardless of circumstances.
HSV replace Tim Walter with Steffen Baumgart
Speaking of Baumgart, he would find employment again relatively quickly by replacing Tim Walter at the Volksparkstadion. When Walter was sacked, HSV had just fallen out of the automatic promotion places, sitting two points behind Kiel and five behind St. Pauli. Now, they are nine and eleven points behind those opponents respectively and aren’t even on course to make the promotion play-off. How much of that can be blamed on Baumgart is hard to say, he’s been getting approximately the same results his predecessor got against the same sides and the side neither feel better or worse. Ultimately, it proves that the issues at HSV, as many (including myself) suggested, were not to do with the manager but those above him.
Mainz replace Bo Svensson with Jan Siewert
This might be a controversial call. Siewert only won one of his twelve games in charge, a win percentage of 8.3% coming on the back of a 5.3% win percentage when the manager was in charge of Huddersfield. However, that ignores the number of games Siewert’s Mainz were the better side. They were able to generate enough chances to win at least half of those games, but couldn’t convert if their lives depended on it. At the time, I said Siewert couldn’t put the ball in the net for his players, but Bo Henriksen shows this Mainz side can score without the manager having to do it for them. It shows that instilling confidence in the side is the difference, Henriksen has done that, Siewert couldn’t.
Kaiserslautern replace Dimitrios Grammozis with Freidhelm Funkel
Like Mainz, Kaiserslautern have replaced their permanent manager twice this season. Like Mainz, the second time was better than the first. Freidhelm Funkel’s return of 12 points from 10 games is not great, but it’s better than what came before and he’s guided the Red Devils into the final of the DFB Pokal, something that still doesn’t quite make sense. It could have gone worse for Kaiserslautern, and in fact, it did earlier in the season.
The Jury’s Out
Wolfsburg replace Niko Kovač with Ralph Hasenhüttl
For Wolfsburg fans, it was hard to say anything nice about the end of the Kovač era in the city. Not only was the football drab but they were being dragged into a relegation battle. They’re not entirely out of that after hiring former Leipzig and Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl, but six points clear with three to go is a great position to be in. They’re there because of Hasenhüttl’s three wins in five. I can’t say that he’s going to be a great long-term manager based on five games, but the signs are promising.
Bochum replace Thomas Letsch with Heiko Butscher
A win, a draw, and a loss is really not enough data to judge a manager on. The Thomas Letsch era at Bochum had reached its end, they were winless since a mid-February victory against Bayern and reportedly Letsch had no idea what to do. Bochum are two clear of the drop and seem to be in a better position with their former midfielder at the helm, but it’s hard to say.
The Bad
Hansa Rostock replace Alois Schwartz with Mersad Selimbegović
It was understandable that Hansa would want to move on from Alois Schwartz in December, the side had dropped into the relegation play-off and the football on offer was bad. However, nothing has got better under their new man, former Jahn Regensburg boss Mersad Selimbegović. Hansa currently sit in the automatic relegation places and they’ve gone from getting 1.1 PPG under Schwartz to 1 under Selimbegović. That’s not a huge step back, it’s barely noticeable, but it is there, and it means that unless something changes in the final three games, Rostock got their appointment wrong.
The Worst: Kaiserslautern replace Dirk Schuster with Dimitrios Grammozis
Kaiserslautern’s decision to move on from promotion-winning coach Dirk Schuster to Dimitrios Grammozis seemed instantly terrible from the moment it was announced. Fans hated the change and the mood around the club went from mild concern to outright panic. In six league games, Grammozis managed to get just three points, ironically, a win against Grammozis’ former employer Schalke. By then though, the atmosphere was toxic, rumours of a player revolt led to the Greek manager threatening to sue people (always a sign things are going great), and Miroslav Klose suggesting he wanted the job didn’t make things better. In the end, his wins in the Pokal were easy to look past, FCK had gone backwards under him and the nightmare would end in February. No matter how Wehen’s new manager does, he won’t be worse than Dimitrios Grammozis.
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