The SG Finnentrop/Bamenohl has initiated the coaching planning for the coming season at an early stage. Half of a dual leadership team is still being sought.

The 2024/25 season is still a long way off. Most of the teams in the Oberliga Westfalen are in the process of taking stock and preparing for the second half of the current season. SG Finnentrop/Bamenohl, however, are already looking a little further ahead. The Oberliga club announced on December 12 that they would be parting ways with coach Ibou Mbaye at the end of the current season.

“We didn’t make this decision at short notice,” Simon Machula, the SG’s sporting director, told Forecasting. “But we have had to make compromises so far in order to be successful.”

One of these compromises was Mbaye’s long journey. To get to home games or training sessions, the A-license holder needed 70 minutes each way. This will continue to be the case until the end of the season, as Finnentrop-Bamenohl are doing anything but badly in sporting terms.

“We finished the first half of the season in seventh place, the best position in the Oberliga. However, our goal remains to avoid relegation,” said Machula. A club statement continued: “Ibou and the team have given us their trust and mutual commitment for the second half of the season and we are sure that everyone involved will do everything in their power to achieve this.”

New coach to complement dual leadership

The plans for the new season have already begun to take shape. The Oberliga team is to have a dual head coach, as other SG teams already have. Jonas Ermes will form part of this. The 31-year-old has been on the sidelines since the summer. Before his coaching career, he played for VfL Bochum, Alemannia Aachen, SC LWL 05 and RSV Meinerzhagen.

The club does not want to rush into the search for the other half of the dual leadership. “We’re talking to different guys,” explained Machula. “He should be different to Jonas, they should be different but also complement each other. “