DARMSTADT – The signs are thickening that Markus is the new coach of the second division football team SV Darmstadt 98. This reported the Bild newspaper. “We do not comment on rumors,” said Darmstadt press spokesman Jan Bergholz on Sunday about these speculations. President Rüdiger Fritsch confirmed that SV 98 is quite far ahead of Dimitrios Grammozis, who turned down an offer for a contract extension in February. “We are on the shortlist. Video conferences have moved in with us.” Enforcement has not yet been announced, but apparently a decision is imminent.
Corona lowers prices
In early 2019, the club was fired shortly before the Bundesliga promotion at 1. FC Köln (then leaders) – after a defeat against the lilies. So far, the 45-year-old was considered too expensive for the south of Hesse, but the corona crisis may have caused prices to drop. An annual salary of one million euros was reported, which is said to have claimed at the beginning. This sum would not fit into the SV 98 salary structure.
The close connection to Darmstadt’s sports director Carsten Wehlmann speaks for an obligation right from the start. The two know each other well from common, successful times at Holstein Kiel (2016-2018). With the northern Germans, they had just missed the march from the third division to the Bundesliga in the 2018 relegation. Since the discharge in Cologne, there was no club at the beginning.