Löwen planning a Swedish duo

What’s next for Rhein Neckar Löwen? This is the question on the day after Noka Serdarusic has called his move to Mannheim off due to serious health problems (as ehfcl.com reported on Wednesday).

The “Löwen” management are trying to find a quick solution for the position, especially as they still want to sign new players. And those players should also know who their coach will be.

The first reaction of manager Thorsten Storm was sadness:

“We’re very unhappy about the news and we hope that Noka will recover very soon. It is not in our or in his power to change it.”

It’s obvious now that Storm will try to sign a Swedish duo: Staffan Olsson and Ola Lindgren, the Swedish national team coaching duo.

“Yes, we agreed with Olsson that he’ll become the second coach with Noka earlier, but now we have a new situation,” Storm said. “We still want to work with Olsson, maybe as first or second coach. We’re looking for another coach with international experience.”

Though Storm didn’t name Lindgren, but he didn’t even dismiss allegations. But Lindgren, Nordhorn coach said:

“I didn’t have any contact with the Löwen and didn’t talk to anyone. But in the situation we have in Nordhorn now, I have to see what I will do next season.”

And what will Nikola Karabtic do? The Kiel player wanted to sign for Löwen because of his relationship with Serdarusic. Rumours had that he would stay in Kiel now, but he soon published a statement on his homepage:

“I need time to think it over. I will have to see what the best for me is as the situation changed completely. I wish Noka to recover very quickly and I hope that he’ll coach again.”

But what is the exact situation with Noka Serdarusic? In an interview with “handball-world.com” he explained his situation very openly:

“I was optimistic at the beginning of the year after my two big operations that I would be fit for new the challenge in Mannheim. But now I know I had a severe setback. I’m not healthy right now. I feel so bad that I don’t know if I would ever work as a coach again or shall I completely retire from handball,” Serdarusic said.

And he added: “I had to decide now as it would have been unfair to Löwen to tell them in June that I can’t take the job. They have to find a solution now and have to plan for the future. It’s the hardest period of my whole life and my coaching career. It’s a real agony.”

And what does Serdarusic expect Karabatic would do?

“I’m very much honoured that he stands by me and he wanted to continue with me in like Vid Kavticnik. And thinking about this is an additional burden. I can’t be his coach at the moment; I can only be a friend. Nikola was at my home and he saw how I feel right now. And he understood that it is not possible for me to coach right now. Now he has to think it over what he would do and he has to decide what’s the best for him."