"Christian Keller Out": How did the tight-pocketed sporting director contributed to Köln's demise?

In this particular story, the root of the problems of this current season must start with the summer transfer window preceding the 2023-24 Bundesliga campaign.

The summer window

During the transfer window of the summer of 2023, Christian Keller was in charge of managing one of the most crucial transfer periods in 1. FC Köln's recent history.

An area of focus was identified by many fans, and this was one of note in the striking department due to the high-key departure of Anthony Modeste of over a year not being dealt with properly.

The key departures, both of which were apparent long before the window opening, of Ellyes Skhiri (Köln's best player during the 22-23 campaign) and club captain and icon Jonas Hector left a big void to fill.

Perhaps the only positive of the aforementioned window, Julian Chabot signed permanently for the club from Müngersdorf and extended his stay with the club following his loan spell.

In order to bring in a player to fill Skhiri's position, the Billy Goats signed Jacob Christensen from Nordsjaelland on a free transfer. This was obviously not going to fully emulate the Tunisian's role at the club and was only a tiny bandaid around what was a large issue.

Two goalkeepers also came in (both as backups) through the form of a thirty-eight-year-old Philipp Pentke from Hoffenheim and Jonas Nickisch from RB Leipzig's youth ranks.

In defence, former St. Pauli captain Leart Paqarada was brought in (as an apparent replacement for Hector) and Ramus Carstensen (loan) was also acquired to try and fill in the holes at right-back as a position Köln have struggled with since the dip in form of Benno Schmitz.

The unnoteworthy reacquisition of Dominique Heintz on an undisclosed fee from Union Berlin played little to no role in rejiggling a fragile Köln defence.

Alongside this, Luca Waldschmidt and Faride Alidou also came in on loan from Wolfsburg and Frankfurt, but both have struggled at times through injury and falling out of favour with their coach. These two look primed to return to their clubs (which probably don't see a future for them) and play even less.

Overall, this window was one to forget and the alarm bells surely should have been ringing long before heading into this season without a dedicated and goal threat through a striker.

After the window, Christian Keller himself said: "We are satisfied with our squad. We think our squad is well staffed and we don’t see any compelling need to change anything."

Double Danger - 1. FC Köln's darkest day in history

On the 21st of December 2023, 1. FC Köln suffered from one of their darkest days in the history of the club as they were hit with a transfer ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport just hours after sacking manager Steffen Baumgart.

In a surprise turn of events after backing manager Baumgart for weeks on end, the Köln board decided to take a u-turn on their previous words and to part ways with the much-loved coach of over two years.

To compound the pain, the CAS decision finally fell hours later with the club in the darkest place it had been in a long while with a two window transfer ban over their heads.

The decision having fallen, a lot of people were understandly irritated with the board and the calls for "Vorstand raus" (the directing board out) were heard across the Cathedral city.

New manager, no improvement in league position

Despite being loathed by some fans of his club, Christian Keller had to carry on with his job and the next task was clear: Find a manager that would want to deal with this mess.

In Timo Schultz, Keller found someone who was willing to undergo a large challenge in making a lacklustre squad and an angry set of fans all on one page with the aim of changing the club's fortunes.

This considered, Schultz has (so far) not delivered what was asked of him in keeping the club in the Bundesliga next season despite performing better (points wise) than his predecessor Steffen Baumgart had.

Conclusion

Time and time again, the wrong decisions have been made at the highest levels at the club named 1. FC Köln. These, of course, mostly fall upon the directing board and the sporting director Dr Christian Keller.

In conclusion, the right decision (when Köln get relegated) must be to get rid of some of their board (in particular Keller) and to reshape the club for the 2. Bundesliga.