Is it going back to the future for VfB?
Bruno Labbadia (56), who was Stuttgart’s head coach from 2010 to 2013, is about to make a possible comeback (BILD reported).
Curious: Labbadia took office on December 12, 2010. Exactly a decade later to the day, he could be back on the pitch in VfB gear for the first time: on December 12, VfB will start preparing for the second half of the season.
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BILD looks back on Labbadia’s first VfB time.
► Its launch
The invitation to the official presentation of Labbadia (came in a blue suit with a blue tie) was combined with the request not to publish the time or place. VfB had feared fan protests. Sporty: The debut on December 19, 2010 went wrong (3:5 against Bayern), but in the course of the season Labbadia Stuttgart led from the relegation zone to 12th place.
► His achievements
In the 2011/12 season, the ex-striker even led VfB into the Europa League and the following season into the DFB Cup final (2:3 against Bayern). Unforgotten: When the then Federal President Joachim Gauck wanted to put the silver medal around his neck at the award ceremony, Labbadia refused and only took it in his left hand. He said to BILD: “Even as a child, I only put a medal on my shoulders if it was the winner’s medal.”
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► His anger PK
In October 2012, after a 2-2 win over Leverkusen and shouts of “Bruno out”, Labbadia gave up at the press conference. He quipped: “I can’t accept it when the coach is portrayed as a complete idiot, like he doesn’t have a clue. The viewers are incited by absolute untruths. The coaches aren’t everyone’s trash cans.” And further: “As a normal Bundesliga coach, you have to ask yourself the question these days: ‘Am I going down a path, a difficult one, like VfB Stuttgart has to go – am I going along with it? Or do I say, kiss your ass?’”
► His taunts
He kept struggling with the fact that the demands of the bosses and financial possibilities do not go together. This culminated in July 2013 with the sentence: “Sometimes you have the feeling that we brought Messi and Neymar!”. Four weeks later he had to leave…