The recently hired Sheffield Wednesday manager previously spent 18 months in the Premier League as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s deputy manager.
Danny Rohl, the new manager of Sheffield Wednesday, feels his experience with relegation battles at Southampton prepared him for the challenge he now faces with the Owls.
The German coach was Ralph Hasenhuttl’s assistant both on the south coast and before in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig.
During his stint on the south coast, Southampton flirted with the Premier League relegation zone, with the team in the bottom three when he came but ending 11th and 15th during his tenure.
Rohl continued at Southampton for 18 months before moving on to Bayern Munich as an analysis assistant coach under Niko Kovac at the Allianz Arena, eventually working as part of the Germany national team setup under Hansi Flick.
He has now been appointed as Sheffield Wednesday’s 11th permanent manager in the previous 12 years. The Owls are currently bottom of the Championship table, and Spaniard Xisco Munoz was fired last week.
At the age of 34, Rohl has become the Championship’s youngest manager, and he says his time at Southampton prepared him for the fight ahead this season.
“I prepared the last 10 years for this situation and now the dream comes true to be here,” he said. “I think I’m very well prepared. I have a clear identity in my mind. I have a clear philosophy and this is the reason why I’m here now. Now we have to create something. We have to create an identity, what we want to play, how we want to play. This is very important for me.”
“It’s very helpful that I have this experience in my career with Southampton,” he added. “We had nearly the same situation there and now it’s up to us to show (the players) what we want.
“Yesterday I was in the stadium for the first time and I felt immediately the good atmosphere. They have a massive fanbase – I watched some videos of the promotion and there’s a lot of energy in this club.
“Thank you for all the messages I’ve had in the last 24 hours, so many messages and it’s unbelievable what happens here. It’s a good sign now for building up something, to start a new journey with this club and I’m looking forward now to what we can do.”
Wednesday’s first game under Rohl will be on Saturday, when they travel to Vicarage Road to face 20th-placed Watford.
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