Coach routine Peter Neururer mistakenly assumed that he would become a coach at FC Schalke 04. The 64-year-old started his bid from the Bundesliga club in Wattenscheid and accepted directly.
The former Schalke president Josef Schnusenberg “called me. Exactly at the time when Schalke had dismissed Domenico Tedesco,” Neururer told the Rheinische Post. “Yupp asked me if I could help and told me what the club wanted to build. “Great, I’m in,” I said.”
Neururer agreed to 100 percent. The only condition he mentioned was that participation in the Champions League should not be spent for the coming season. “‘Peter’, he said then. ‘This is Wattenscheid 09 we’re talking about, I’m on the board.’ First I was stunned,” Neururer said.
Wattenscheid 09 is currently playing in the Regionalliga West. Neururer is the sports director of the fourth division team. “I had given him my word. And when I make a promise to someone, I stand by it,” Neururer said.
Instead of Neururer, Schalke legend Huub Stevens inherited Tedesco and saved S04 from the threat of relegation. But Neururer also worked on Schalke – between 1989 and 1990 he trained royal blue. Schalke played in the 2nd league back then.
In 1989 Neururer managed to keep his class in league two, in the following season he led Schalke to fifth place in the 2nd league. 1990/91 it should finally work with the ascent. It did, too, but without Neururer on the sidelines. He was released after 17 match days. Klaus Fischer had initially taken over the club on an interim basis before Bosnian Aleksandar Ristic led the club back into the Bundesliga.
