Official | Schalke sack Thomas Reis | OneFootball

Schalke have this morning announced the dismissal of head coach Thomas Reis with immediate effect. The Royal Blues have just two wins in seven in the 2. Bundesliga this season.

A club statement read: “After recent poor results and a lack of sporting perspective, the sporting management have decided to relieve head coach Thomas Reis and his assistant Markus Gellhaus of their duties with immediate effect. This decision was made after some in-depth analysis carried out over the past few days. Current assistant coach Matthias Kreutzer will take over until further notice.”

Peter Knäbel, board member for sport added: “Following our comeback win against Magdeburg we had expected to see further progress away against FC St. Pauli. Instead, we witnessed another step in the wrong direction.

“We’ve used these past few days to discuss things and came to the conclusion that this step needed to be taken for the good of the club. Our aim is to buck the negative trend that has developed since the start of the season.”

Reis joined Schalke a year ago but was unable to prevent the club from being relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. The 49-year-old was in charge for 31 games, averaging 1.13 points per match.

Schalke have beat Kaiserslautern and Magdeburg this season but suffered an opening day defeat against Hamburg, losses against Eintracht Braunschweig, Holstein Kiel and St. Pauli, and a 1-1 draw against newly-promoted Wehen Wiesbaden.

Central-defender Timo Baumgartl was also fined by the club and sent to play for the U23s for comments made following their 3-1 loss against St. Pauli on Saturday night.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder