| Skibbe pays for Leverkusen slip |
| Wednesday, 18 June 2008 | |
 Bundesliga outfit Bayer 04 Leverkusen have parted company with coach Michael Skibbe after dropping to seventh place on the last day of the Bundesliga season.UEFA Cup disappointment A 1-0 home defeat by Werder Bremen meant that Leverkusen, who could have finished fourth and had been in a UEFA Cup qualifying place for most of the season, ended up out of contention for a competition in which they reached the quarter-finals this season. That meant the end for the 42-year-old former BV Borussia Dortmund coach and Germany assistant Skibbe, who joined in 2005 and had 12 months left on his contract. Hard decision "Given the final Bundesliga results and that we missed our season's goal of reaching the UEFA Cup, we have decided that we would part company with Michael Skibbe as of now," said managing director Wolfgang Holzhäuser. "We have had long and difficult talks and we did not take the decision lightly, because Michael Skibbe has done very good work in his time here. But altogether there are many reasons for a fresh start with a new coach for next season." Skibbe 'regret' Skibbe, whose successor has not been named, said: "I enjoyed being coach at Bayer 04 Leverkusen a lot. I regret that we were not able to fulfil our expectations in recent weeks. Nevertheless, I am pleased about the development of the team and individual players like René Adler, Gonzalo Castro, Simon Rolfes and Tranquillo Barnetta." (uefa.com) |
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