YB brought in Rieder, Basel Oberlin: six reasons for FCB’s decline

It is original sin. A decision that, objectively speaking, makes zero point zero sense. Urs Fischer is in first place in 71 of the 72 Super League rounds, wins the double, destroys FC Sion’s cup final myth, but is still fired. Seen through the Basel lens, the expulsion of the successful coach makes sense. Because Fischer is a living FCZ legend. And the new leadership under Bernhard Burgener is talking about a ‘forever red-blue’ concept. Fischer’s successor will then be a Walliser who has never played for FCB: Raphael Wicky. Who wants to understand that.

It was July 20, 2017 when then FCB sporting director Marco Streller spoke about one of Switzerland’s most promising strikers: Dimitri Oberlin. FCB will transfer almost five million francs to Salzburg, but apart from a magical Champions League autumn, the Romand region will not repay any of this transfer fee. And the upcoming series champion YB? That same summer he signed a promising midfielder from FC Solothurn, who was only 15 years old at the time, from FC Solothurn, the actual catchment area of ​​FC Basel. His name: Fabian Rieder.

‘Pipi im Seich’, headlines SonntagsBlick. Because sports director Marco “Pipi” Streller fires coach Wicky after just two matchdays of the new season and interim coach Alex Frei only plays a draw in Neuchâtel. In times of need, the leadership around Bernhard Burgener hired a man with whom Streller never really warmed up: classification legend Marcel Koller. His work ethic is probably unparalleled in Basel. But the Zurich native never gets a real chance. Despite reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa League and winning the cup in 2019, his expiring contract will not be renewed. The chaos days in Basel will be remembered. First, Streller releases Koller, after which Burgener reverses the decision, after which the team leader, annoyed, brings up the begging.

Bernhard Burgener is a very entertaining man. The movie mogul sees life as a movie. Even as the fan riots reach their peak and a Burgener doll burns outside the Joggeli, the president still believes in riding back to the city on the white horse. With a suitcase full of money to please the people. Coal is said to come from a vague company called Centricus. Because the FCB in Basel belongs to the cultural heritage and should not fall into foreign hands, David Degen takes over the club, a man who has excellent lawyers in his team. And just before that I wanted to join GC.

Patrick Frame made a sensational start to the season two years ago. Nine wins in a row, plus the group win in the Conference League. Arthur Cabral, to whom Frame gives Pelé’s number 10 as a sign of appreciation, scores as if he is on the assembly line. Yet the trainer has already been destabilized in the winter. The FCB is looking at possible successors, but ultimately Frame is allowed to continue. Also due to a lack of alternatives. After just four games in the second half, it’s over. After a 3-0 win against Lausanne, Degen makes the walls of the dressing room shake.

David Degen should have known that Heiko Vogel is not the easiest character. He eventually moved from YB to Basel as an active player in the summer of 2012, when Vogel could call himself a double winner and Man Utd eliminator, but faded behind appearances. It probably did not escape Degen’s notice that the coach often stood on the Tegernsee instead of on the Freie Strasse. It was also not true that the FCB team was not convincing from a sporting point of view at the start of the new season, even though they probably had the best FCB player of all time in their team with Mohamed Salah. Degen probably also noticed that the coach was fired for these reasons. It is all the more surprising that Vogel was first sports director under him, then coach, then sports director again and now coach again. The question is: how long?