I know I will probably be entertaining myself here, but for those who care, I´ll make this thread the official SK Rapid Wien pre-Season 2002/03 Thread.
So, who´s in, who´ll be out? What´s the situation with the Sportdirektor? I´ll post all the news I get when it comes to Rapid here
Transfer Market:
In: Steffen Hofmann (Bayern München Amateure): does not exactly sound like the transfer bomb everyone expects, but from my understanding he´s been doing a pretty good job at his current employer and definitely worth a shot. I welcome him.
Other names that float around are some Croatian player called Piric (formerly at Ulm), the inevitable Ali-Daei - rumour came up recently as well, there´s an Irish player called Goodwin who currenly has trials at Rapid, and the romours around Michael Baur and Wolfgang Mair can still be heard. Leoben - striker Parapatits is also in the mix...
Out: Günther Schiesswald and Gaston Taument were supposed to be drafted at the end of the season since the contracts of both are about to expire, if I´m not mistaken. After their recent displays, however, both are in contest again. I´d like to see at least Schiesswald getting another chance - perhaps a 1-year - contract? There´s not much depth to speak of in the Rapid-backline, so it would be a bit risky to get rid of him.
I always sort of liked Taument, especially last fall when he had some amazing displays. However, he is neither the youngest nor the cheapest player in Rapid´s squad, so offloading him would be okay with me since Matthäus is not planning with him anyway. Same goes for Jürgen Kauz who had like - what? 10 matches? - in his time at Rapid. Plus, we have Ivanschitz who is the team´s future anyway.
Oliver Lederer? Thankfully, he was already sent to the Amateur´s squad last winter. He has no future at Rapid. He´s 2nd division material... another wasted talent.
Oliver Freund is supposed to make his way back to Germany. Don´t know where he´ll land, though - maybe Freiburg?
I have never really understood why Jürgen Saler has been rated that highly at Rapid - after having won the lottery, his performances even further dropped, so I wouldn´t mind seeing him trying his luck someplace else.
The coaches´ situation (I consider Matthäus to be the coach - just to avoid misunderstandings) is a difficult one. I never was and never will be an advocate of discharging the coach in bad times, and I am fine with seeing that SKR obviously plans to keep him for the new season. THe majority of Rapid-fans are with me on this, as it seems, hearing how they cheered him in the last matches. I tend to give him the benefit of doubt but simultaneously warn that the fan´s credit might be over sooner than expected once the new season turns out to become an equally miserable one as this one.
That´s all that comes to my mind now, but I promise I´ll keep myself updated!
So, who´s in, who´ll be out? What´s the situation with the Sportdirektor? I´ll post all the news I get when it comes to Rapid here
Transfer Market:
In: Steffen Hofmann (Bayern München Amateure): does not exactly sound like the transfer bomb everyone expects, but from my understanding he´s been doing a pretty good job at his current employer and definitely worth a shot. I welcome him.
Other names that float around are some Croatian player called Piric (formerly at Ulm), the inevitable Ali-Daei - rumour came up recently as well, there´s an Irish player called Goodwin who currenly has trials at Rapid, and the romours around Michael Baur and Wolfgang Mair can still be heard. Leoben - striker Parapatits is also in the mix...
Out: Günther Schiesswald and Gaston Taument were supposed to be drafted at the end of the season since the contracts of both are about to expire, if I´m not mistaken. After their recent displays, however, both are in contest again. I´d like to see at least Schiesswald getting another chance - perhaps a 1-year - contract? There´s not much depth to speak of in the Rapid-backline, so it would be a bit risky to get rid of him.
I always sort of liked Taument, especially last fall when he had some amazing displays. However, he is neither the youngest nor the cheapest player in Rapid´s squad, so offloading him would be okay with me since Matthäus is not planning with him anyway. Same goes for Jürgen Kauz who had like - what? 10 matches? - in his time at Rapid. Plus, we have Ivanschitz who is the team´s future anyway.
Oliver Lederer? Thankfully, he was already sent to the Amateur´s squad last winter. He has no future at Rapid. He´s 2nd division material... another wasted talent.
Oliver Freund is supposed to make his way back to Germany. Don´t know where he´ll land, though - maybe Freiburg?
I have never really understood why Jürgen Saler has been rated that highly at Rapid - after having won the lottery, his performances even further dropped, so I wouldn´t mind seeing him trying his luck someplace else.
The coaches´ situation (I consider Matthäus to be the coach - just to avoid misunderstandings) is a difficult one. I never was and never will be an advocate of discharging the coach in bad times, and I am fine with seeing that SKR obviously plans to keep him for the new season. THe majority of Rapid-fans are with me on this, as it seems, hearing how they cheered him in the last matches. I tend to give him the benefit of doubt but simultaneously warn that the fan´s credit might be over sooner than expected once the new season turns out to become an equally miserable one as this one.
That´s all that comes to my mind now, but I promise I´ll keep myself updated!
