1. FC Union Berlin have confirmed that the club have sacked head coach Norbert Düwel. The 47-year-old had two years remaining on his current deal at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
The decision comes after a less-than-impressive start to the season, where Union have yet to win and have only picked up four points from a possible 15. Oddly, the board have decided to let Düwel go after a more promising home draw with RB Leipzig and the first five fixtures haven't been a breeze either; Fortuna Düsseldorf, SV Sandhausen, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1860 Munich and Leipzig are by no means pushovers.
Zingler explains the reasons behind the decision
An official statement was released on the Union club website, in which Dirk Zingler, the club president, said: "Norbert Düwel has reacted with a lot courage and consistency, what we expected from his contract, and is not shied away from difficult decisions."
He added that the Berlin-based side are "convinced" that a change of coach is "necessary" in order for them to "achieve [their] goals". Zingler then thanked Düwel for his "dedicated work" before wishing him the best both "personally and professionally".
Hofschneider and Bönig in charge temporarily
The statement on the site also said that assistant coaches André Hofschneider and Sebastian Bönig would be in charge of first-team training until a replacement was found. However, it did say that a replacement would be named in "the coming days".
Düwel looked to have built a squad capable of challenging the very best teams in the division after a strong summer, in which players like Bobby Wood and Dennis Daube joined the club. It does seem that, perhaps, there were too many new faces and that they were taking a while to gel together. He'll now not have the chance to see the team develop and blossom, though he has most definitely put Union in a great position for the future.