Ex-Tottenham boss Gross set for Schalke job: reports

Berlin, Dec 23, 2020 (AFP) - Crisis-hit Bundesliga giants Schalke 04 are set to name former Tottenham manager Christian Gross as a permanent successor to sacked head coach Manuel Baum, German media reported on Wednesday.

Though the club are yet to make an official announcement, both Bild newspaper and public broadcaster WDR reported that Schalke will make Gross their fourth head coach in 2020.

The 66-year-old, who saved Tottenham from relegation in the 1997/98 season, will be charged with guiding Schalke off the bottom of the table and ending their miserable winless run of 29 league games.

According to WDR, Gross will officially take over from interim coach Huub Stevens on December 26, and will take his first training session on Sunday ahead of Schalke's trip to Hertha Berlin on January 2.

He arrives with Schalke mired in one of the worst crises of their history, and two matches away from equalling Tasmania Berlin's 54-year-old Bundesliga record of 31 games without a win.

The Gelsenkirchen-based club have parted ways with two coaches since their last league win in January, with former Huddersfield coach David Wagner sacked in September and Manuel Baum following him after just 80 days in charge.

In a management career stretching back over three decades, Gross has had spells in England and Germany with Tottenham and Stuttgart, and won multiple Swiss league titles with Grasshoppers and Basel.

The Schalke job would be his first in Europe in eight years, following spells in charge of Egyptian giants Zamalek and Saudi Arabia's Al-Ahli Saudi.

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