1860 will start the 2017/18 season in the third division after being relegated through the relegation playoff. That the Munich side could struggle this season was expected as the club has regularly featured in the relegation battle in recent campaigns. But their eventual relegation was a real shock and came just a few months after the owner of the team had declared that 1860 were on the path to promotion and Champions League football. The pressure heaped on successive managers at the club was undoubtedly part of the club’s downfall and, with their relegation confirmed, the future of the club as whole is in doubt.
The season started far more optimistically with Kosta Runjaic taking charge and the obligatory purchases to forge the side as he wanted them to play. The 1860 was the largest of any side by far at the beginning of the season. But Runjaic was unable to deliver immediately to the high standards expected of him and he was quickly fired. The scrutiny around the management culture at the club led to a media ban, but that was only the beginning of a bizarre season. Over the winter break Portuguese coach Vitor Pereira was put in charge and he added a further 6 players in the January transfer window. By this point the off-field antics of the club were grabbing the spotlight more than the football as the club were taken to court by a current member of the squad as well as the former coach. The circus surrounding the team can hardly have helped them, but Pereira also made some poor decisions on it such as striping Stefan Aigner of the captaincy in a very public dispute. Even against rank outsiders Jahn Regensburg in the relegation playoff 1860 should have had enough to survive but, after an awful display at home, the club’s time in the second division was over for now.
The playing squad were complicit in the club’s relegation with very few individuals standing up and taking responsibility for the poor performances. No one impressed this season but few will be around next year as a clean up of the squad is inevitable. No one made more than 24 starts this campaign which reflects the wildly different views the 2 coaches had this season. Veteran midfielder Michael Liendl can be seen as the team’s best player with his 8 goals and 6 assists, the most of any player in the squad in both categories. But even he was not considered a starter. 1860 will start next season as favourites to go up, but the mismanagement from the board level down to the coaching staff is extreme and before the club has its own house in order it cannot really move forward.
