A special Rapid envoy visited the teams training camp in Portugal from Sunday to Wednesday, headed by club President Rudolf Edlinger. The Rapid chiefs were accompanied on thier flight home by the departing Muhammed Ildiz: the midfielder left the training camp to fly to southern Germany in order to undergo a medical ahead of a transfer to German-Cult Club FC Nürnberg. Edlinger didn't leave though before making an importnat decision in conjunction with Sporting Director Helmut Schulte, namely the extension of Head Coach Peter Schoettel's contract until summer 2015. President Rudolf Edlinger explained: "As is well documented I began talks with Peter Schoettel over this topic in Autumn. He has guided the team through an enormously difficult period and has managed to achieve a runners up place in the Bundesliga as well as doing the club proud in the Europa League. I'm delighted that after the talks with Sporting Director Helmut Schulte we have arrived at this decision and the working relationship with our trainer will continue for at least a further two seasons. We are convinced that he is the correct man for the job and are of the opinion that he has the ideal personality to continue down our chosen road of intergrating players from our youth set up into the first team."So far Schoettel has managed Rapid in 72 competitive games during his 18 month reign, 10 of which were in European competition. In the tipp3-Bundesliga Peter Schoettel has taken charge in 56 matches and gained precisely 100 points (1.79 points per game). Talking about his new contract extension the 45 year old said: "I'm grateful for the trust the club has placed in me and i'm looking forward to the coming challenges. The position is extrememly rewarding and I'm convinced that together we are heading towards a successful and bright future. We have a squad littered with youngsters with massive potential, and this winter in Branko Boskovic we have added extra know-how and quality to supplement the youth. I'm extremely motivated and want to push the club on and I'm looking forward to continuing the good work with the Board, the Sporting Director and my backroom staff and players."Sporting Director Helmut Schulte, who resolved the finer points of the negotiations with Peter Schoettel in Portugal, added: "After my first week with the club I was instantly convinced that with Peter Schoettel we already had the ideal candidate for the Head Coach role at the club. Therefore I'm delighted that we have already managed to get a deal in place to extend his contract. Peter is a football man with many qualities, and with his people in place and with this team of players he gauruntees that the hard work will be put in – hard work that will lead to success on the pitch."Our Sporting Director officially broke the news on Thursday in the presence of the first team squad and also Austrian Foreign Minister Bernhard Wrabetz, who was in Portugal to watch the last friendly game of the camp that evening. The players and trainers returned to Vienna on Saturday ahead of the season restart.(gw)
05.02.2013