Fitness specialist Thomas Neubert is very close to returning to CSKA, after the club officially announced the appointment of his compatriot Markus Gizdol as the new head coach. According to information from the newspaper “24 Chasa“, the management of the “Reds“ has already contacted Neubert and is negotiating the parameters of his possible new contract. The desire for the physical training specialist to join the “Bulgarian Army“ comes personally from Gizdol, who has indicated him as a priority option for his staff.
Currently, the physical condition of the players under the temporary leadership of Daniel Morales is being taken care of by Kostadin Dzhorgov. At the same time, Ivaylo Mladenov, who was part of Hristo Yanev's team, has returned to Vratsa to dedicate himself once again to the training of athletes in athletics.
Thomas Neubert knows the atmosphere at CSKA very well, where he arrived in the summer of 2016 and worked successively with mentors such as Hristo Yanev, Eduard Yordanescu, Stamen Belchev, Nestor El Maestro and Luboslav Penev. On March 21, 2019, he left the capital to join the United Arab Emirates.
The German specialist, who was born in 1969 (like Markus Gizdol), started his career in Kaiserslautern in 2009, and has extensive experience in Romanian football with the teams of FCSB, Gloria Bistrica and Concordia. During his first stay at CSKA, Neubert was at the heart of the development of Kiril Dinchev, who later took over the physical training of the “reds“, and today works at Slavia. Neubert is currently a free agent, having last been part of the FCSB headquarters until March this year.
A serious team is already forming around Marcus Gizdol. It certainly includes assistant coach Rainer Widmeier, who has gained extensive experience as an assistant in the Swiss St. Gallen and Grasshoppers, as well as in the Bundesliga with the teams of Hertha (Berlin), Stuttgart, Hoffenheim and Schalke 04 (having briefly led the first teams of Hertha and Greuther Furth). The team analyst will be 29-year-old Jakob Braun, who has already worked with Gizdol at Turkish clubs Kayserispor and Samsunspor.
The coaching staff is expected to be completed with at least two new names - a fitness specialist (for which Neubert is the favorite) and a goalkeeping coach, with a German with experience at Hertha being discussed for the second position. It is very likely that at least one Bulgarian specialist will join Gizdol's assistants.