Peter Stöger gave VfL Bochum a public rejection on Monday evening. The Austrian’s actions left Patrick Fabian astonished.

Following the dismissal of Thomas Letsch, it didn’t take long for a number of names to circulate as possible successors for the job on the VfL Bochum touchline. In addition to coaches such as Stefan Kuntz and Urs Fischer, Peter Stöger was mentioned in particular.

The Austrian decided to give VfL a public rejection in the Austrian newspaper “Heute” on Monday evening. “They called me yesterday evening,” Stöger explained there. “It was a great conversation. It would also have been very interesting and exciting for me. I thought about taking the job to get myself back in the conversation.” However, the short notice and the contract situation at Austrian second division club Admira Wacker, where he works as sports director, would have spoken against it.

A day later, this move caused great surprise among sports managing director Patrick Fabian. Although the Bochum man confirmed that talks had also taken place with other candidates, including Stöger, the club was still completely convinced by Heiko Butscher. “If the candidates then express themselves as they do in the case of Peter Stöger, then that’s very bizarre. “

VfL Bochum does not serve to get itself into the game anywhere.

Patrick Fabian

Fabian contradicted Stöger’s statement that the Austrian had turned VfL down. “There were talks, but the way it was presented in the end is only part of the truth,” explained Fabian, adding: “We decided together that it wasn’t right – for different reasons. “

Fabian was particularly disturbed by Stöger’s statement that he had thought about the job in order to “get himself back into the conversation”. He was at the wrong address for that in Bochum. “VfL Bochum is not about getting yourself back into the game somewhere,” Fabian made clear. Instead, it needs a coach who puts the club at the forefront – precisely the kind of coach that has now been found in Heiko Butscher.