GAK and Hartberg

Two Styrian clubs between heaven and hell

Jubilation in Hartberg - sadness at GAK.

(Bild: Gepa, Krone KREATIV)

A snapshot of two Styrian Bundesliga clubs could not be more different at the moment. While Hartberg's sky is full of violins after three wins in a row, the mood in the camp of bottom-placed GAK is in the doldrums. The focus at both clubs: the coaches.

The scene is Hartberg: Manfred Schmid was presented as the new coach of the team from Eastern Styria on September 22nd - two weeks later, the Viennese is already the most successful coach in the club's history! Never before had a TSV coach won all of his first three league games. Another statistical tidbit: TSV has now gone seven competitive matches in a row (six in the league, one in the cup) without defeat - another record for the club! The latter was achieved under the "coach combo" Schopp/Schmid.

TSV coach Manfred Schmid

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

"It was impressive. The way we played in all parts of the team was really strong," Schmid said after the 3:2 win at former club WAC. Three wins in three games for Schmid - Hartberg had "only" celebrated four victories in the entire calendar year 2024. "The team is intact, they're having real fun playing soccer," said the Viennese, who is enjoying a pleasant international break and can "work on converting chances in the final third".

Scene Graz: The break is experienced differently at GAK. If the mood at the promoted team, who are without a win in eight games, was already bad before the match at Austria, it is miserable after the 1:2. Another (not nearly as nice) look at the statistics: Only three clubs have started worse than the Red Jackets in the last ten years: St. Pölten (2017/18), Admira 2019/20 and Austria Lustenau last season - each with just two points after nine rounds. In each case, the coaches (St. Pölten's Fallmann, Admira's Geyer and Mader in Lustenau) were "gone".

Gernot Messner

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

According to reports, this is not (yet) the case in Graz. "The frustration level is rising," says coach Gernot Messner, who has to deal with other issues off the pitch. Right-back Lang, for example, was dropped from the squad for disciplinary reasons. "We won't discuss the next steps until next week," said Messner on the Lang case.

Unity in red - for now
His "role" will also be discussed during the break. There is said to be a large degree of unity at the helm - critical voices towards the coach are few and far between. The basic approach of trying to emerge from the crisis together remains the party line for the time being. However, the red players also know what time it is. And: that in soccer you often can't avoid the necessary "jolt" (change of coach) to free a team. GAK's next games: Sturm on October 19, Rapid on the 27th and Salzburg on November 2.