Football Season Guide

Altach

In


Werner Grabherr (manager), Emir Karic (def) (Liefering), Leonardo Zottele (def) (Nürnberg U19), Felix Luckeneder (def) (LASK - loan), Manfred Fischer (mid) (Hartberg)

Out


Klaus Schmidt (manager), Bernhard Janeczek (sp) (def) (BW Linz), Daniel Nussbaumer (sp) (mid) (Stuttgart II), Patrick Salomon (r) (mid) (Mattersburg), Yusuf Otubanjo (sp) (att)(MSK Zilina - back from loan), Mathias Honsak (r) (mid) (Salzburg - back from loan)

Altach have established themselves as a solid Bundesliga club over the recent years, but there is no doubt that the Altachers have been on a downtrend since losing ex-boss Damir Canadi to Rapid in late 2016. They qualified for Europe at the end of the 2016/17 season mostly thanks to the points collected under Canadi but their form in the second half of the campaign was poor and the previous season was no different - they made a strong start, but were rather poor after that, with Klaus Schmidt being relieved of his duties at the end of the season. The Altachers opted to promote from within and name Werner Grabherr their new manager. Their new boss has had several different coaching roles with the club over the years and was their interim in two spells, but this will be his first opportunity to be a full-time Bundesliga manager. Two important players have left in Patrick Salomon and Mathias Honsak, although neither of them has made the expected income due to persistent injury problems. Injuries were a recurring theme for the Altachers over the majority of the last two seasons and Grabherr might be looking to address the issue and check if training methods have perhaps contributed to the frequent injury issues. Altach were never in a particularly good position financially and it is therefore hardly a surprise that their list of arrivals consists of players unproven in the Bundesliga, with Felix Luckeneder being the sole exception. Their squad looks a touch weaker than it was last season and their rookie manager looks like he will have a tough job on his hands.

Target


Despite having a couple of European adventures over the recent years, Altach look to be in a clear downtrend as a club and would be pleased with a lower midtable finish.