Coach Sandro Wagner in Hanover: The second attempt

His transformation raises questions. And that's exactly what Sandro Wagner doesn't feel like doing. As a former professional and coach of the first division club FC Augsburg, he was never at a loss for a cheeky saying. As the new head coach of second division team Hannover 96, the nationally watched football expert wants to shine with good work instead of brisk rhetoric. “For me, the result doesn’t fit the game,” said Wagner after the 0-2 defeat in the DFB Cup home game against 1. FC Kaiserslautern.

Wagner consistently blocks probing questions about Hannover 96's sporting decline in press conferences. His posture and facial expressions then signal unmistakably: Can I please get out of here now?

Maybe Hannover 96 is just too small, too bad and too restless for Sandro Wagner. The former national player and assistant to the former national coach Julian Nagelsmann is making a second attempt as a front-row coach with Lower Saxony. After four games under his direction with only a meager draw and the cup exit in round 2, the question is naturally circulating as to how well Wagner fits into Hannover 96. "I like the team. And I like these people," assures the 38-year-old.

His request for trust, time and peace only partially matches the longing of a club that wants to return to the first division after eight years of absence, but hardly wins anymore. 16th place after nine match days: That's the best fodder for all of Wagner's envious people and critics.

On one point, the hopeful deserves pity. So far, Wagner and his team have only been able to train intensively on selected days. First of all, he was missing several national players from Hannover 96 during an almost three-week international break - including Finnish striker Benjamin Källman. In addition, there are injury-related absences and the dilemma that the team lost 2-0 to the emotionally charged Niedersachsensenderby at Eintracht Braunschweig.

This Sunday, when Hannover welcomes its next uncomfortable opponent, Dynamo Dresden, Wagner's work will be put to the test again. On the way from the cup defeat to the next league game, he advised his team - in front of rolling television cameras - to eat well, sleep well and work hard on themselves. It is precisely this version of external communication that makes the environment uneasy and makes Wagner seem like a harmless clone of himself who lacks any authenticity.

The Hannover 96 crash remains associated with several strange personal details. At the end of March, Jörg Schmadtke, who was appointed managing director, left the company after only three months in office. The then head coach Christian Titz then missed tangible promotion and was apparently unable to agree on a clear transfer strategy with Schmadtke's successor Jonas Boldt. After just five game days in the 2026/27 season, Titz was replaced by Wagner.

Even this club, which has been tried and tested with crises, cannot withstand much more unrest. Boldt, who became known through his work at Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburger SV, would like to redesign something from the ground up in Hanover and create professional structures. He reacted calmly to the media rumors that his position was at risk again after just four months. When asked whether Wagner would be allowed to stay as 96 coach, Boldt replied: “As long as I’m there, definitely.”

The bottom line at Hannover 96 is once again reduced to the question of how much patience and budget is possible under the care of Martin Kind. The now 82-year-old has been making all the important decisions for almost three decades. Bringing extroverted types like Boldt and Wagner to Hanover seems like an escape to the future. One can only guess which of the two is currently under more pressure.

Boldt is accused of not having taken sufficient care to ensure a competitive squad of players. Wagner focuses on the substantive work, but lacks the necessary success. So is the coach under pressure? "I don't see any pressure in sport. I'm a family man. There are other pressures in the world," emphasized Wagner after his team's good game with the bad result against Kaiserslautern.