The end of the ideal YB world: will they ever mourn Wicky in Bern like Fischer in Basel?

Having the skills in your legs is one thing. Being able to mentally deal with a certain pressure situation is something completely different. Every week, football gives us vivid examples of how seasoned professionals suddenly lose their nerve.

Darmstadt debacle, YB collapse – both start in the head!

On Saturday, for example, the players of Bundesliga bottom Darmstadt provided a real treat for sports psychologists in their 6-0 defeat by Augsburg when, following a hair-raising defensive error after just a minute and the subsequent early goal, they suddenly added misfortune after misfortune and almost defeated the opponent who was invited to score goals every minute. So after half an hour of the best slapstick entertainment the score was 0:5 from the perspective of the Darmstadt team – a figure that has only been exceeded three times in 60 years of Bundesliga.

But uncertainty is not always so obvious. It is usually an unremarkable, gradual process that only gradually reaches the ears of those affected.

Who would have thought a few weeks ago that YB had a head problem? The champions appeared to be heading confidently towards their sixth title in seven years and were also in the Europa League knockout round play-offs and cup quarter-finals. Coach Rafael Wicky? Apparently an ideal cast for the BSC Young Boys. Down-to-earth, precise, successful. Okay, the Valais is perhaps a bit more emotional here and there. But please: 2023 Double winner, Champions League participant with respectable performances against overwhelming Man City and Super League leaders RB Leipzig. What else do you want?

Wicky fired (not) a quick shot

Apparently a lot. Because just 10 days were enough to let go of the seemingly perfect yellow-black world. Europa League exit against Sporting Lisbon? Actually not a broken leg. Play cups in Zion? Can happen. Two defeats in the league? Not every day, but it’s happened before. But all at once? Too much of a bad thing.

Serious? I do not believe it. The otherwise down-to-earth population of Bern around strongman Christoph Spycher cannot be expected to show such a short-circuit reaction. The coach’s departure was a long time coming, perhaps at the end of last year, even though they would have liked the end of the Wicky era to have come at the end of the season. Of course decorated with at least one more championship title.

But the club’s long-standing mental move to break away from the coach must also have reached the players in recent weeks. And with that comes uncertainty. Unconditional trust in a coach who no longer trusts the club management? Impossible. Accidents occurred – first off the field, where a noise was heard that was unusual by YB standards, and then also during the sporting activities. And to look like a watered-down poodle, you don’t always have to concede five goals in half an hour.

Parallels with the Fischer end in Basel

It is no secret that those responsible for YB have higher ambitions than the sometimes sedate football that Wicky had to offer. Becoming champion every year with timpani and trumpets and regularly shining internationally would be good for the club. That’s what the bosses at FC Basel thought too almost seven years ago – and said goodbye to the supposedly sedate double winner Urs Fischer. They still mourn that at FCB today. And at YB? Maybe you’ve already hooked the new guy.

Next week we’ll know if YB actually managed to turn things around in game one after Wicky vs. Basel or if the long-forgotten word ‘Veryoungboysen’ is experiencing a renaissance.