Stuttgart have sacked general manager Rolf Russmann, the former German international central defender.
Rossmann returned to Stuttgart two years ago, shortly before Manfred Haas took over as president from the current federationchief, Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder. The two men worked together well enough at first and it was Russmann who brought in Felix Magath as coach.
Relations between Russmann and Magath have become distant over the past six months and Haas also grew increaingly irritated with erratic results, which he blamed on Russmann’s failure to implement a long-term team-building policy.
The last straw for Haas was discovering earlier this week that Russmann had awarded a lucrative contract extension to veteran captain Zvonimir Soldo. Russmann was then told to clear his desk a few hours ahead of the club’s Christmas party.
By Keir Radnedge
