SG Finnentrop/Bamenohl has started planning the coaching for the upcoming season early. Half of a dual leadership is still being sought.

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

“This decision was not made at short notice,” Simon Machula, the SG’s sporting director, told Forecasting. ”But we have had to make compromises in order to be successful so far.”

One of these compromises was Mbaye’s long journey. To get to home game days or training, the A-licensed coach needed 70 minutes each way. This will continue until the end of the season, as Finnentrop-Bamenohl is doing anything but badly in sporting terms.

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

New trainer as addition to dual leadership

Plans for the new season have already taken shape. The Oberliga team is to have a dual coaching leadership, as is already the case with other SG teams. Jonas Ermes will be part of it. 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 the search for the other half of the dual leadership. “We are talking to different guys,” explained Machula. “He should be different from Jonas, they should be different but also complement each other.”