STUTTGART, GERMANY - DECEMBER 05: Riot police arrest a person after the Bundesliga match between VfB Stuttgart and VfL Bochum at Mercedes-Benz Arena on December 5, 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images)

The police found VfB Stuttgart …

Bottom of the Bundesliga in April, VfB Stuttgart needed a relegation play-off to stay in the competition this season. Now they are set for the Champions League. Adam Bate gets the thoughts of the club’s sporting director to find out how they have done it…

When Sebastian Hoeness was appointed VfB Stuttgart head coach in April, the club were seemingly in disarray. Bottom of the Bundesliga table and already onto their third coach of the campaign, the ambition then was merely to survive.

Hoeness’s side proceeded to lose only twice in those final 12 games, including wins home and away against Hamburg in their relegation play-off. What has happened since has been remarkable. The momentum might just carry them into the Champions League.

“Getting relegated would have been a huge setback,” VfB sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth tells Sky Sports. “It was incredibly important to stay up. It certainly would not have been possible to keep the squad together.” That squad is now third in the table.

“Nobody could have anticipated this. Towards the end of last season we were in very turbulent waters.” Wohlgemuth credits chief executive Alexander Wehrle for exuding calm in a difficult moment. But the arrival of the new coach was the catalyst for change.

“We were very lucky to be able to bring in Sebastian,” he adds.

Hoeness is the nephew of the former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness and has recently been linked with the summer vacancy there – with good reason. His work at Hoffenheim showed promise. But this has been something else, acknowledges Wohlgemuth.

Tags: VfB Stuttgart

The police found VfB Stuttgart …

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