Professional soccer K League 1 Suwon Samsung officially announced the resignation of head coach Lee Byung-geun and announced that they would switch to the acting coach Seong-yong Choi. It is to ask for responsibility for the poor performance, but criticism is raised that it cannot be blamed solely on the director.
On the 18th, Suwon announced through the club’s Instagram, “We have decided to sack coach Lee Byeong-geun by taking responsibility for poor performance.” He added, “For the time being, the team plans to lead the team with head coach Seong-yong Choi taking over as acting coach.”
After losing 0-1 to promoted team Gwangju FC in the opening match of the 2023 season, Suwon failed to win in its 7th game. With only 2 points from 2 draws and 5 losses, they fell to the bottom of the league.
The club notified coach Lee Byung-geun of the resignation the day before the match against rival FC Seoul on the 22nd. Coach Lee Byeong-geun was a founding member of Suwon and was a legendary defender who led the club’s golden age by playing for 10 years from 1996. During the 2021 season as coach of Daegu FC, his leadership was recognized by putting the team in 3rd place in the K League 1. However, on April 18, in the middle of last year’s season, he was called by his parent team, which fell into the relegation zone, and was sacked less than a year after taking the baton.
Founded in 1995, Suwon is a prestigious club that won the K-League four times in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2008. However, there has been no league title since then, and only the FA Cup has been won three times.
The biggest problem pointed out is the lack of investment and the resulting deterioration in the overall quality of the squad. Suwon’s parent company changed from Samsung Electronics to Cheil Worldwide in 2014. At that time, concerns that Samsung Electronics, which had changed its role from a parent company to a sponsorship company, would reduce the amount of support, would make the club’s livelihood tighter, became a reality.
As the investment has been reduced to the level of mid-tier teams in the K-League, the outflow of national team-level star players has not been prevented, and the time to stay in the mid-lower ranks is getting longer. In 2016, three years after Cheil Worldwide became the operating entity, it stayed in 10th place in the regular season and came down to the Split B stage for the first time since its foundation. Last season, they fell to 11th place and had to go through the promotion playoffs for the first time.
The club’s repeated failures in recruiting players and reinforcing its strength are also cited as the cause of the downfall of the famous family. Groning, a striker from the top scorer in the Danish second division, who was recruited in January of last year, returned to his home country of Denmark in July of last year, midway through the season, after going scoreless in 14 league games.
Oh Hyun-kyu, who was considered a reliable frontline attacking resource this season, was transferred to Celtic (Scotland), and Mulich was brought in from Seongnam FC as a replacement, but it is not living up to expectations. Mulich was absent from the opening game due to a hamstring injury, and after that, he played in three games, but could not score or score points, such as assists. 메이저놀이터
The club is only taking out the manager replacement card, but the team’s performance shows no signs of improving, and the manager replacement cycle is only getting shorter. Former head coach Lim-saeng Lee received notice of resignation after 591 days, coach Park Geon-ha after 587 days, and coach Lee Byeong-geun after 364 days.
The anger of Suwon supporters, who even blocked the team bus, is directed at the club front. While boycotting cheering at league games, showing off a hook criticizing the front desk, they recently staged a truck protest in front of Samsung headquarters demanding countermeasures. In the online community of Suwon supporters, there is a line of articles urging the club to come up with measures to deal with the reduction of support from the parent company, such as capital partnership, sale, and joint ownership