For any who have followed German football in the 90s Winfried Schäfer has the singular reputation of having precided over the demise of a one-time powerhouse of the Bundesliga, Karlsruhe FC. It is only the very old, the nostaligic and the historically interested who might have the faintest idea that he was once a player and coached a relatively successful Karlsruhe with the likes of Kahn, Scholl, Linke and Nowotny.
The fact that when one talks of German football names like Beckenbauer, Fritz Walter, Rummenigge etc come to mind and not Schäfer is eloquent testimony to the man’s ability as player and coach. Long gone is that time when he was considered for die Mannschaft. But that was only consideration and it does not take much to be considered for anything … after the Euro 2000 debacle with the obscure character, Ribbeck all sorts of men like Heynkes, Kraus ,Rehhagel etc were offered the job but only Cocain Daum accepted it. So that is it about Schäfers 15 mins of fame!
Due to his crafty nature and his uncanny ability to strike deals he was able to switch to VfB Stuttgart after plunging Karlsruhe FC to division two. VfB was then run by another shady figure, Gerhardt Mayer-Vorfelder, a man who « managed » to be club president for 26 years juggling it with many political offices like Finance minister of Baden-Würtenberg. By the way he resigned from « open » or active politics in controversy over …you guessed it… money!
Anyway Schäfer’s tenure despite his backing in high places was terminated after six playing days because of poor results. Stuttgart under him was heading for relegation, the same team that had reached the UEFA cup finals in 1997 under Jöggi Löw! Then came a period of unemployment but for a man like Schäfer, it was only a question of time for after six months he took the reins of lowly TeBe Berlin. One catastrophe followed another. Things came to boil when in the face of « Erfolgslosigkeit » (lack of results) players lead by Ansgar Brinkmann openly criticized Schäfer’s lack of authority and lack of coaching acumen.
After he again presided to the descent of TeBe Berlin to the Regional Liga, Brinkmann and others refused to have anything to do with him. Logic has always said you can easily change a coach not the team and so Schäfer was given the sack once more. This time it proved to be different. It had been established that where he went, failure followed and no self-respecting man in football was willing to give him a hand-shake. This meant 18 months of unemployment.
This for a coach is very telling when one considers that teams in the lower half of the table are bound to sack and hire coaches many time during the season. No one in the 1. Bundesliga , 2. Bundesliga not even in any Regionalliga was willing to take chances with the man, not even for the amateur teams.
Given his social manawa skills, his friends at PUMA set him up with Cameroon. PUMA had experienced two successives record years at the stock market riding on the wave of the Indomitable Lions’ performance at ACN 2000 and the Olympics. PUMA was and is still worried that any French boys would get too involved with the team and not necessarily further their interests. The wranglings between LeChantre and the pimp of Bidoung were things they wanted to avoid. Besides LeChantre was no PUMA toy. PUMA acknowledged that they had difficulty dealing with Cameroonian officials, it was therefore necessary to get a man of confidence in there… they connived to make sponsoring appear like a favour to Cameroon and forced Schäfer down our throats. Schäfer was not even their third choice. Dortmund’s amateur trainer Köppel was the man but he turned it down …
Riding on the winds of the momentum of the Akono/LeChantre team, the Lions succesfully defended their African title four months after being saddled with Schäfer. He failed his first test in Japan/Korea. It was reasonable to assume that he had too little time to leave his stamp on the team and had to rely on the existing team of players and system. He tactical bankruptcy shone for all the world to see when the Lions known for their particular brand of football marrying skill and flair with steel were just a shadow of themselves not just in one match but during the whole of the ACN 2004.
I wish to spare the memory of such squalid and dull encounters.
On the other side, the man has shone by his « RDPC militancy ». His feel for electoral issues in Cameroon and his declaration « Fußball in Kamerun ist ganz ganz wichtig, er gehört dem Präsidenten » ( » In Football is very important. it belongs to the head of state » ) brought about that element that Hitler galvanized in his fathers. He beat all those sending « motions de soutien » hands down when he declared before God and man that he Schäfer and not Bidoung and cohorts does team selection.
His comments pertaining to the Mboma and Wome affairs showed crystal clear that the man’s footballing emptiness could only be matched by his moral or character bankruptcy. His quickness to apportion blame to players at the end of the ACN just like in the WC highlighted the fact that he could be rightly compared to a worthless dog which however would still fight for a bone! For all his loyal services to the Renouveau, he was awarded a contract till 2006 irrespective of his ultimate litmut test that the Nations’ Cup was.
Of course when Iya Mohamed says they have to rethink the whole team including the staff, Schäfer does not need to look far to understand… the language.
To prove that no one needs to tell him the colour of money, he contacted the Egyptian FA. Egypt the reader knows is another PUMA business and only in such murky businesses can such mediocrity have a chance. He is waiting for Cameroon to sack him … it goes with a severance package… he goes to Egypt and the whole thing just continues.
He laughs and says God is great to have made idiots like Bidoung Mpkatt and all those disciples of Biyaism. Thanks to them a worthless bag from Baden shall never know famine!
He makes a mistake. Every declaration of his gives the impression that he thinks he is talking to fools. Cameroonians are not fools!
Ankabang, Camfoot Forums
