Relegation candidate pulls the emergency brake – this coach has to go

More than half of the season has been completed and slowly the clubs are getting nervous. Also in the Regionalliga West. A relegation candidate is looking for a new coach.

Somehow this dismissal was in the air – for weeks. Now Forecasting learned that SSVg Velbert sacked Dimitrios Pappas on Rose Monday, February 12, 2024.

The club officially confirmed the news that same evening, stating: “The board and supervisory board regret this decision, but the facts and figures did not allow for any other decision.” President Oliver Kuhn provided a more detailed statement.

“We added to our squad during the winter break and gained six new, experienced players for the relegation battle. Unfortunately, this was only noticeable in two pre-season games and in the first league game against Gütersloh,” said Kuhn.

“Judging by the performance in the 3-0 loss to Oberhausen and now the catastrophic 5-0 defeat against Fortuna’s U23 team from Düsseldorf last Saturday, we had no alternative but to pull the emergency brake to make a positive change towards avoiding relegation.”

Pappas led Velbert back to the Regionalliga West after more than five years, but was unable to keep up with his team as planned. Velbert is bottom of the league and five points behind the safety line.

Velbert has the second-worst defense (47 goals conceded) and second-worst offense (20 goals scored) in the league. Three wins and twelve defeats are also the worst record in these categories.

Pappas has been the coach at Velbert Sonnenblume since July 1, 2022. It is not yet known who will succeed the former coach of Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and the VfL Bochum women’s team. The next game for Sport- und Spielvereinigung Velbert is on Saturday (February 17, 2 p.m.) at Fortuna Cologne.

Regionalliga West: Ninth coaching dismissal of the current season

Dimitrios Pappas’ dismissal is the ninth coaching dismissal of the current Regionalliga West season.

A few days ago, Rot-Weiß Oberhausen parted ways with Jörn Nowak. Mike Terranova took over on an interim basis. A permanent successor for Nowak is still being sought.

Shortly before the turn of the year, Wuppertaler SV announced that interim coach Christian Britscho would be replaced by Ersan Parlatan. He ultimately became the successor to Hüzeyfe Dogan, who was dismissed in November 2023.

At Rot Weiss Ahlen, sporting director Orhan Özkara initially took over from Daniel Berlinski on an interim basis, and was later replaced by Björn Joppe Özkara in the coaching position. At 1. FC Düren, Carsten Wissing succeeded Boris Schommers, who moved to third-division club MSV Duisburg.

Farat Toku replaced Carsten Rump at SV Rödinghausen and Jens Langeneke took over from Nico Michaty at Fortuna Düsseldorf II. Alemannia Aachen made the first change of coach of the season. Reiner Plaßhenrich took over from Helge Hohl on an interim basis before Heiner Backhaus was introduced as the new head coach. The club is now top of the table under Backhaus.