Personae Non Gratae — Mainz 05

Kurt Beck – The Rival-Lover: The former minister-president

Kurt Beck – The Rival-Lover: The former minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate has been a declared fan of Kaiserslautern since childhood.

Kurt Beck – The Rival-Lover: The former minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate has been a declared fan of Kaiserslautern since childhood. His obvious affection for Mainz’s great rivals from the Palatinate has always irritated Mainz supporters. Beck himself has said that a loud section of the Mainz fan base took offense at his support for the FCK, and that he drew the obvious consequence.

The booing reached its peak at the opening of the new arena in July 2011, when he was whistled so ferociously that he left early. In the end he even gave up his season ticket and declared he would no longer attend matches at the Opel Arena. In truth, the treatment was not entirely fair: without Beck’s government, the new stadium would never have been built.

Jörn Andersen – The Inarticulate One: Communication problems

Jörn Andersen – The Inarticulate One: Communication problems led to one of the shortest coach dismissals before the start of a Bundesliga season, as of December 2019.

Jörn Andersen – The Inarticulate One: Communication problems led to one of the shortest coach dismissals before the start of a Bundesliga season, as of December 2019. In 2008 the Norwegian succeeded Jürgen Klopp and delivered promotion to the Bundesliga — only to be sacked three days after a cup defeat at fourth-tier Lübeck and four days before the opening league match at Leverkusen. President Harald Strutz said the parties’ ideas of how they should work together were no longer compatible. Too little communication with the team and, in the eyes of the board, the wrong training methods cost Andersen his job.

Critics later also blamed him for a long list of injuries during pre-season. A return to Mainz has remained unthinkable.

Jürgen Rische – The Promotion Spoiler: One single

Jürgen Rische – The Promotion Spoiler: One single goal cost Mainz promotion in 2003, and it was scored by Braunschweig striker Jürgen Rische.

Jürgen Rische – The Promotion Spoiler: One single goal cost Mainz promotion in 2003, and it was scored by Braunschweig striker Jürgen Rische. On May 25, 2003, after a 4:1 win in Braunschweig, Mainz thought they had done enough, only for news to arrive from Frankfurt that Alexander Schur had made it 6:3 for Eintracht and pushed them past Mainz on goal difference by exactly one. Had Rische not scored Braunschweig’s meaningless 1:4, Mainz would have been promoted.

But he did.

Johannes Kaluza – The President in the Red

Johannes Kaluza – The President in the Red Trousers: When Johannes Kaluza was elected in June 2017 to succeed Harald Strutz, Mainz’s ultras cheered.

Johannes Kaluza – The President in the Red Trousers: When Johannes Kaluza was elected in June 2017 to succeed Harald Strutz, Mainz’s ultras cheered. By winter, the euphoria had gone. In less than six months, Kaluza had managed to show himself as unsuitable for the office.

The entire board was against him. By November 2017 he had already been asked to resign twice. One low point came at the club’s annual general meeting, where he spoke for fifteen minutes about the fact that he was not being paid — despite having originally run for a voluntary office.

Suddenly he wanted a salary and a company car. The supervisory board approved 3,000 euros, 20,000 less than his predecessor. On St Nicholas Day 2017, Kaluza resigned.