Tanner: “We're all behind this decision“

Ernst Tanner on…

…the developments of the last few weeks:

“The last few days have been a turbulent time at the club and the atmosphere was very low after the game against FC Augsburg last week. One win in the last ten games told us that a change needed to be made at the top. The trend which we've followed has been and still is a risky path to take. I have taken the responsibility on myself to prepare the club for every eventuality. After we went out of the Cup on Wednesday, the pressure to make a change had reached such a high level that a decision had to be made.”

…the dismissal of Holger Stanislawski

“If a good man like Stani has to go, of course that reverberates very strongly with the fans. I can understand that, absolutely. We consulted with the fans extensively and tried to make it clear to them how we viewed things. The decision had to be made and everyone agreed on the course of action we have decided to take. But as well as taking into account the interests of our fans, we have to think about the interests of the club as well. If we hadn't reacted, we would have found ourselves in an even worse situation at some point down the line.”

…the decision-making process:

We don't consider Stani's project to have been a failure. That was proven by the fans' reaction on Wednesday night. It wasn't a mistake bringing Stani here, even though things have worked out differently. Changing managers is always an unpleasant action to have to undertake. But we have made a decision now that everyone is completely behind.”

…the conversations with Markus Babbel:

“I had my first conversation with Markus on Monday afternoon, and it was clear then that we both agreed on many things. He came to Zuzenhausen yesterday evening. We hope that we can now stop arrest the team's poor run of form. We are, after all, in a points-based business, but we still believe we can achieve our aim of finishing in the top half of the table.”