Miron Muslic is bringing new momentum to Schalke. Now the coach is even a member himself.

Coach Miron Muslic is now officially a member of FC Schalke 04. “Once a Schalke fan, always a Schalke fan,” wrote the 43-year-old in his Instagram story, accompanying a screenshot of an email confirming that his membership application to the second division soccer club had been processed. The news, coming one day after the 1-0 victory against Greuther Fürth, is likely to earn the Austrian even more sympathy from many fans.

Muslic took over as head coach at Schalke in the summer and has since given the traditional club new momentum. Under his leadership, the Royal Blues have won five of their seven games so far this season. The club from the Ruhr region already has a whopping 15 points to its name and is mixing it up at the top of the table.

After Friday evening’s latest victory against Fürth, the S04 coach raved about his team’s performance: “I think that was our strongest performance in recent weeks. Not only did we have a clear plan, the right structure and organization, but we also dominated in all phases of the game. We were very difficult to play against and very well prepared when we had possession. We did an excellent job in the first half and created chances to score. When we lost the ball, we were also incredibly aggressive and took away Fürth’s counterattacks with our counter-pressing.“

Muslic added: ”The message at halftime was to keep a cool head and not stray from the structure—a goal will come. We then created chances in the second half without losing our defensive compactness. Then we took a well-deserved lead. What happened in the last seven or eight minutes happens in every league in the world when the score is only 1-0. The opponent goes all in, but we still kept a clean sheet and didn’t allow anything except for a header.”

Fans always like to see and demand that players and coaches identify with the club. But it’s pretty rare for a coach to register as a member after just a few weeks. (with dpa)