Christian Gross was appointed coach in December 2020 — the supposed saviour in the greatest hour of need. The Swiss manager, once successful at FC Basel and Tottenham Hotspur, seemed like a foreign body in Gelsenkirchen from the very beginning. At his unveiling, with a suitcase full of ideas, he looked awkward.
Three months and four wins in 14 matches later, it was over. The spell remains in memory as one of the strangest coaching appointments in Bundesliga history.