Before GAK debut

9000 fans and a good omen ahead of the red restart

New coach Rene Poms (center) eagerly awaits his GAK debut against Rapid.

(Bild: Radspieler Jürgen/Juergen RadspielerJürgen Radspieler)

Rene Poms' coaching debut at GAK is a success - 9000 tickets have already been sold for Sunday's (14.30) hit against Rapid! The red season record attendance (9107 came against Salzburg) is wobbling and everyone is eager for a big turnaround.

Rene Poms continues on Sunday in Liebenau at the "GAK restart" against the opponent he played against in his last appearance in Austria: Only the result against Rapid this time should be better than the 0:3 Cup semi-final knockout with DSV Leoben in April 2024.

With a lot of order, discipline and a slightly deeper defensive line, the new manager wants to lead the unsettled GAK to points and new self-confidence. He will press a lot of buttons to achieve this: "The team is intact, has a good character," says Poms, "now it's a matter of raising the mental component with a positive mood and getting the best out of the players."

A new "chocolate table", as once introduced by his former teacher Walter Schachner (with whom he was a co-master at LASK) as a psychological trick at GAK and which led the Reds from the basement to second place, will be dispensed with. "We are now starting from scratch and Rapid is a good opportunity to show what we can do. I want to see eleven people who are ready to do everything with the highest level of energy. The fans should see a team that is on fire and no longer makes the kind of easy mistakes it has in the past. Incidentally, FC Noah showed in the European Cup that you can definitely hurt Rapid."

Former coach Schachner relied on the chocolate table.

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

A good omen for the new "boss": On an amateur basis, almost every new GAK coach (Plassnegger, Preiß, Simundza, Ceh, Stöger) has won or at least scored on their debut. Their predecessors in the top flight were also quite successful: Söndergaard won 0:0 against Sturm, Schachner 2:0 against FC Kärnten, Libregts 3:1 at Admira and Keglevits 4:2 against Austria.

In addition, Andreas Lienhart and Ralph Spirk are two assistant coaches on the staff who can tell you how to beat Rapid: they were there live at the last GAK win in the Bundesliga (4:1 on 20. 8. 2006).

No Poms table
Above all, captain Marco Perchtold hopes that Poms has more luck than Gernot Messner ("We have to thank him because he did a great job"): "We'll make sure that we implement the new coach's strategy with energy and get back on the road to success! It's a fresh start and we'll give it our all, full of energy and passion." Postscript: "But we don't have a Poms table in the dressing room!"

Marco Perchtold (r.) is hoping for a big turnaround.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

The captain has fond memories of Rapid: "But that's all in the past. We may still have the same name, but we no longer have the opportunities that GAK had back then." Nevertheless, he wants to do everything he can with his team to pick up as many points as possible.

The biggest problem at the moment: "It's not that we're not scoring enough goals, but when you get as many as we do, it's difficult to win. Unfortunately, the momentum hasn't often been on our side either, but you have to earn that or get it on your side. But there's still enough time to turn things around."

For defensive bulwark Lukas Graf, the impulsive new boss now needs to score quickly: "The first win is the most important thing. Once that's achieved, things can go up very quickly."