Austrian Football Association President Gerhard Milic responds to Janko’s criticism

After missing out on the World Cup qualifiers, Franco Foda was not the only Austrian FA chief to be the focus of criticism.

Sporting director Peter Schoettle and president Gerhard Milic have to ask themselves many important questions these days.

After all, the decision to rely on Fouda until the end of the World Cup qualifiers was their responsibility.

When Milic took over in mid-October last year, the team manager’s chair was trembling after non-fiction performances against Israel and Scotland.

The Austrian Football Association has expressed confidence in Fouda in the fall of 2021

However, Leo Windtner’s successor continued to express confidence in the German and justified his decision at that time in an interview with the ORF “Sport am Sonntag”:

“He’s had a lot of success as team boss. He’s had the highest point average of the last team bosses we’ve had. There must have been a number of reasons why he didn’t succeed in the end. But we were convinced he was going in the right direction.”

A narrow defeat in Denmark and mandatory victories over the Faroe Islands, Israel and Moldova were considered the reason for this assumption.

Financial reasons may also have played a role: after all, Fouda would have had to pay until the end of 2022 if he qualified for the World Cup. Apparently, the Austrian Football Association did not want to put up with this extra effort.

Sports director Schutel: “If the pressure had increased too much, we would have had to do it. But after the matches against the Faroe Islands and Denmark and the mandatory victory over Israel and Moldova, it happened in a way that it is no longer necessary.”

Janko complains of a lack of “sports competence” in the Presidency

In the view of many experts, this should have been a huge mistake. After all, there were already some weaknesses in the national team game at that time.

In an interview with ORF on Saturday, former Austrian Football Association striker Mark Janko criticized, above all, the lack of a plan at the ÖFB-Elf Games.

Many experts also miss the almost non-existent offensive pressure.

In addition, Janko is also questioning the original appointment of the team leader. Schoettle recommended three equal future team captains to the UEFA Executive Committee: Fouda, Torsten Fink and Andreas Herzog. Thus the final elections were held by the heads of states, who, according to Janko, would clearly lack “mathematical competence”.

“They are involved in amateur sports and that is also important. But for the professional sector, someone has to know their way around.”

Milic does not understand this criticism. “The appointment of the team leader is only approved in terms of economic efficiency,” Burgenlander says. After all, a coach can be recommended otherwise, which the EMF cannot afford.

Janko: “hair lifting structure”

However, Milletich does not deny that the final decision was ultimately made by the Executive Committee: “We had three candidates and those three were equally ranked by Peter Schöttel. Then the Executive Committee decided who could do it better.”

A circumstance that has bothered Janko for many years: “It’s a structure that raises hair in every nook and cranny. It’s time to fix,” the former Salzburg striker demands.

An opinion that Janko may not be alone in in Austrian football.

Text source: © LAOLA1.at

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