Why would your favorite fan leave his club after 17 years –
2 hours ago

Nuremberg – And suddenly he’s gone, at least for now. Marek Mental – the live club legend, multiple goalscorer in Nuremberg work clothes and the last assistant coach in emergency situations – leaves the club. How did you get there?

Often the dream and nightmare are close to each other. Even disaster to embarrass One and Five against Armenia Bielefeld at times couldn’t do much to Marek Mental’s confidence. “There will be better times again,” he said after his first and last assignment as Head of Sports at 1. FC Nuremberg, In November 2019. For him too, of course.

The better times took more than eight months to the sixth minute of stoppage time, even if after the relegation match from Ingolstadt as a temporary emergency assistant, everything was suddenly not great at the club. When it came time to find a new coach for the new second division season, his name was mentioned too, even publicly.

Mintal goes – this didn’t have to be

“Definitely a point of contact,” the sporting director said at the end of July, he was a football legend in Nuremberg, Mental had “done a very good job” with his under-21 team, and there had to be an exchange in time. There was also one, and Dieter Hocking signed it – Robert Klaus, another apprentice.

Only hold until the end of the year

Hocking justified himself at the hypothetical public meeting in October, among other things, not against Mental, but with Klaus. However, Mental, who has been an official soccer teacher since February 2020, has hurt the lack of renewed interest, and left traces; Hawking’s predecessor had once promised him the coveted position, but likely only in the event of relegation to the third division.

Now Mintal has decided – not against his club, but in favor of the offer of the Slovak Federation to work as assistant coach for the national team. In the meantime, until December 31, that is how long Stefan Tarkovi’s contract, who brought him to the squad last October, is in effect. If Tarkovi had to leave at the end of the year, he would also leave Mental. “Out of respect,” he asserts.

No stones on the way

Mental will continue to move and live with his family in Röthenbach an der Pegnitz. When he was forced into quarantine after the World Cup qualifiers at the end of March, he had a lot of time to think; The bid for a permanent position in the association had been available since January and before it about two weeks ago. Although he is in fact still tied to 1. FC Nürnberg until the summer of 2022. Nevertheless, officials indicated in time that they would “not put any obstacles in his way” if he someday wanted to take the next step elsewhere.

Mental goes – that’s a shame, but …

Under-21, Bavarian regional league, everything is fine. But apparently not a professional starting point. Mintal will lead his last session at the Sportpark Valznerweiher on May 14th, and on May 22nd he will transfer to a two-week training camp in Austria with his Slovakian national team. To prepare for the European Championship.

Against Poland, Sweden and Spain

The competitors in the preliminary round are Poland, Sweden and Spain, where the match is still unclear, perhaps not in Bilbao and not in Dublin either. Mental takes her with necessary calm, like almost everything in life. He still feels emotional when he’s supposed to talk about the club and his club. He proudly wore the badge on and off the field for 17 years, and he owes a lot to 1. FC Nürnberg. Which is why in the future I would love to do more than just help in terrible crises.

Mental leaves the door open anyway. “If the opportunity arises at some point and people want me, I will return,” he said on the phone, loudly impressed by the countless hearts still flying to him now that his initial goodbye had been confirmed. After Bild reveals the secret at noon, Michael Wiesinger, head of the Youth Training Center, tells him that the news situation has suddenly changed while he was still on the training ground.

The club is always in my heart

After the unit, Mental informed his crew; Truth moments in the locker room were “a little strange,” but the change is not just part of the job: “This is football, this is life,” Mintal says of the tracks that will soon separate. “He has a chance to return to the club at any time,” sporting director Hikking said in a club announcement, but the U-21 team will have to look after others in the future.

Mental will get over the fact that they trusted him no more than Regionaleja Bayern at 1. FC Nürnberg in the long run. For him, better and more demanding times in his career are now beginning, and part of it will remain anyway: “I will always be in my heart.”