Steyr sports director: "The cut was like day and night"

2023-07-28 04:04:00

Today, the red-whites kick off the new season in the third division with neo-trainer Markus Eitl in the home derby against the LASK amateurs – and it’s completely renewed: 27 players left the club after relegation, 18 newcomers were brought in.

Before the start, OÖN spoke to sports director Gerald Perzy about the new team, a turbulent transfer time and the club’s goals.

OÖN: Are you glad that the transfer time is over?

Gerald Perzy: I have never experienced this myself in this form. It was very turbulent, there were many rebuffs. Nobody from the second division team really wanted to go along with it. And it wasn’t easy to get players from the lower leagues either, due to the financial situation. I would have liked to get some good players with potential from the Upper Austrian league – but they all prefer to stay with their current clubs because they can earn more there. The minus that has continued to grow in recent years is now being attempted to be reduced in a way that is also necessary. The cut was like day and night.

OÖN: How satisfied are you with the current squad?

Of course it was difficult after the descent, but the mood has now turned positive again. We have a young and willing team. Luckily there are still players who value the appeal ofVorwarts Steyr and see it as a platform. Even though we’ve put together a whole new team, it seems like they’ve known each other forever. A team can also weld that together, they want to prove it to everyone.

OÖN: One jumped off at short notice: Oguzhan Sivrikaya…

This is the bottom drawer. He would have been planned for us as a regular player. Now the transfer window is closed and we can no longer react. Someone else must have put that flea in his ear. I spoke to four different advisors about him alone. We switched on the ÖFB. But we don’t need players like that.

OÖN: What is the club’s goal for the coming season?

There is no real target yet, also because we want to wait for the first games. We expect a very balanced league and we want to do well in this one. Resurgence is not an issue. This will be more of a project for the next two or three years.