Clean sweep:

LASK “spring clean” sweeps away coach and fans!

Thomas Sageder has been LASK history since April 10.

(Bild: GEPA pictures, Photohop)

Even if there is no official confirmation, Thomas Sageder's lightning exit as coach at LASK could be directly linked to the escalated protests by some of the supporters against an economically important top sponsor in Graz on Sunday!

After the "washing" of the protest fans on Sunday during the 0:1 defeat in Graz and Monday on the Linz Gugl, LASK started a "turbo steam cleaner" before tomorrow's match against Salzburg:

• HISS - and washed away were six fans from the stands thanks to a pungent "cleaning agent" called Hausverbot!

• HISS-HISS - and swept away was Thomas Sageder, the fifth (!) LASK coaching error since the summer of 2020!

But as overwhelmed as Sageder - who will be succeeded by 30-year-old Max Ritscxher on an interim basis until the summer - has been for weeks, there seems to be a connection in the chronology of the events that finally came to a head yesterday at the LASK "spring clean".

The LASK fans protested in Graz not only in the form of banners . . .

(Bild: GEPA pictures/ Chris Bauer)

In this washing machine dummy, the supporters "washed" pink jerseys clean.

(Bild: Georg Kallinger)

• Sunday: With original and witty, but also questionably controversial protests against the black and whites playing in BWT pink, fans in Graz caused a new level of escalation in the tense relationship with the LASK management. Especially as the action against the major sponsor is reminiscent of the protests that fan groups in Germany used this year to show solidarity and prevent a billion-dollar investor from entering the German Football League: Supporters of Linz hang a giant washing machine dummy "lined" with pink jerseys in Graz and later hang it up as a "clean-washed" red and black one. Before the game - reminiscent of Germany - is interrupted. Because of hundreds of washing machine tabs flying onto the pitch.

• Monday: Fans turn the access road to the stadium in Linz into a "washing street" by putting down washing machine housings.
• Tuesday: Like the day before, LASK considers a course of action. A decision is made to ban people from the stadium. Five against members of the largest fan club registered as "contact persons", one against a member of a fan initiative for connivance.

• Wednesday: The sanctions are perceived as "arbitrary" in the angry supporter circles. It is agreed on a broader basis to decide on a further course of action during the course of the day and thus possibly new actions for the Friday game. Before the club surprisingly announces at 10.50 am: "LASK change coach!" In other words: Sageder, the unpopular coach whose head fans had been calling for from the start, is gone. Will this move reassure the fans? The fact is that the supporters seem stronger than ever!