The move of football coach Uli Forte from Grasshopper Club Zurich to Young Boys Bern has sparked almost as many emotions in recent days as the tax agreement with the USA. To get straight to the point: Uli Forte criticising his previous employer GC at his first press conference with YB was not a good thing. You don't do that. But that still doesn't justify the criticism he had to put up with from fans and certain media even before this failed performance. This criticism is ungrateful from the fans, to whom he gave GC a completely unexpected cup victory and second place in the championship. And it is totally hypocritical from the media, such as the Tages-Anzeiger, which accuses him of opportunism .
Opportunism? What exactly is wrong with saudi arabia rcs data someone who, while complying with all contractual obligations - and after, nota bene, having done a very good job, i.e. was worth his money - accepts a job offer that is better than his previous one? Is this opportunism? When Martin Kall, a member of the Ringier Group management, switched sides (Limmat) and became CEO of Tamedia (not at the same rate either), this was certainly not reported in the Tages-Anzeiger. And Tagi journalist Thomas Schifferle, who is now self-righteously criticizing Uli Forte, has probably also forgotten that he did exactly the same thing when he moved from the Blick to the Tages-Anzeiger sports department. With one difference: he works in an industry where the half-life of employment is much longer and the jobs are more secure than in Swiss football.
This can claim the sad honor of not having coaches fired as quickly as in our Raiffeisen Super League in any other country. And why are they fired? Because most club managements become hectically activism when a coach who is not doing well is criticized by the media and the media have no hesitation in calling for his head. So if a coach changes jobs because he earns twice as much at his new job and has a contract three times as long as Uli Forte at YB, then this is not least due to the opportunism of the media itself, which demands the minds of coaches. Not his own. And if media like the Tages-Anzeiger notice that such bigoted hypocrisy gets on their readers' nerves, they may even succeed in becoming as successful as Uli Forte was with GC.
Sacha Wigdorovits is a communications consultant. As a journalist, his previous roles included editor at the Tages-Anzeiger and sports editor and editor-in-chief of Blick. He later co-founded the commuter newspapers 20minuten.