Christian Gross

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Christian Gross
Personal information
Full name	Christian Jürgen Gross
Date of birth	14 August 1954 (1954-08-14) (age 53)
Place of birth	Zürich, Switzerland
Club information
Current club	FC Basel (manager)
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1973-1975 1975-1978 1978-1980 1980-1982 1982-1983 1983-1985	Grasshoppers Lausanne Sports Neuchâtel Xamax VfL Bochum FC St. Gallen FC Lugano
National team
	Switzerland	1 (0)
Teams managed
1988–1993 1993–1997 1997–1998 1999–	FC Wil Grasshoppers Tottenham Hotspur FC Basel
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Christian Gross (born 14 August 1954 in Zurich) is a professional football coach and former player, who has been manager of FC Basel since 1 July 1999.^[1]

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Management career 2.1 Early Success 2.2 Spurs 2.3 FC Basel 3 Honours 4 References

[edit] Playing career

Gross began his playing career at Grasshoppers Zurich, whom he left in 1975. After three years at Lausanne Sports and two seasons at Neuchatel Xamax he moved to Germany to play for VfL Bochum of the Bundesliga in 1980. In two seasons Gross made 29 appearances in the Bundesliga and scored four goals. He then returned to Switzerland and spent three years at FC St. Gallen and FC Lugano. Gross was capped once for Switzerland.

[edit] Management career

[edit] Early Success

Gross began his managerial career at Swiss side FC Wil in the 2. Liga (the fourth-highest level), for whom he was active as player-manager. During his reign from 1988 to 1993 Wil climbed into the 1. Liga and then the Nationalliga B (now the Challenge League). While at Wil, Gross developed a reputation for an emphasis on fitness and hard work.^[2]He then joined Grasshoppers Zurich as head coach in 1993. Under Gross, Grasshoppers won two Swiss championships and the Swiss Cup. Gross's success with Grasshoppers meant he was a very highly-rated coach in his native Switzerland, but he was still relatively little-known outside central Europe and it was a major shock when in November 1997 he was chosen to succeed Gerry Francis as manager of Tottenham Hotspur.

[edit] Spurs

Gross endured a tough nine months at Tottenham starting in the relegation zone. To further his troubles, his most trusted aide, the Swiss fitness coach Fritz Schmid, who had been an integral part of Gross' training plans at Grasshoppers, was denied a work permit by the British government and so was unable to take up this role at Tottenham.^[3]

Despite this, results were good; a 2–0 win over Everton in Gross's first game in charge of Spurs was quickly followed up by defeat with a harsh-looking 6–1 scoreline at the hands of Chelsea on Gross' home debut. However, despite the team gradually improving and even at times looking startlingly impressive like how they finished the season on a high by only losing one of their last nine game, he was an unpopular figure with the British tabloids.^[4]

His preparations for the 1998–99 season were hampered by a witch hunt, and when Spurs lost two of their opening three matches, chairman Alan Sugar decided enough was enough and ended Gross' contract, claiming it had nothing to do with Gross' credentials and blaming the media for destroying his reputation.^[5]

[edit] FC Basel

After being fired from the Tottenham job, Gross returned to his native Switzerland, finding work as the coach of FC Basel. Although the British tabloids retained an image of Gross as a largely incompetent figure, he didn't care and worked steadily to rebuild Basel into the premier force in Swiss football and achieved greater success than when manager of Grasshoppers.

Under Gross' guidance, Basel have now won three Swiss championships, two Swiss Cups, and mounted a fairytale run in the UEFA Champions League in 2002, beating eventual finalists Juventus as well as knocking out Celtic and drawing with Liverpool (twice) and Manchester United. Gross' success in these games against British sides went a long way towards restoring his reputation among the British media and fans.^[6]

[edit] Honours

Career as Coach
Period	Club		Titles
1988-93		FC Wil	Promoted to 1. Liga Promoted to Nationalliga B
1993-97		Grasshopper Club Zürich	1994 - Swiss Cup 1995 - Championship 1996 - Championship
1997-98		Tottenham Hotspur
1999-		FC Basel	2002 - Swiss Cup 2002 - Championship 2002 - UEFA Champions League 2nd Group Stage 2003 - Swiss Cup 2004 - Championship 2005 - Championship 2007 - Swiss Cup 2008 - Swiss Cup 2008 - Championship 2008 - Super League Coach of the Year

[edit] References

v • d • e Tottenham Hotspur F.C. – Managers Brettell (1898–1899) • Cameron (1899–1907) • Kirkham (1907–1908) • Turner (1908–1912s) • McWilliam (1913–1927) • Minter (1927–1930) • Smith (1930–1935) • Hardinge (1935c) • Tresadern (1935–1938) • McWilliam (1938–1942) • Turner (1942–1946) • Hulme (1946–1949) • Rowe (1949–1955) • Anderson (1955–1958) • Nicholson (1958–1974) • Neill (1974–1976) • Burkinshaw (1976–1984) • Shreeves (1984–1986) • Pleat (1986–1987) • Hartley & Livermore (1987c) • Venables (1987–1991) • Shreeves (1991–1992) • Livermore & Clemence (1992–1993) • Ardiles (1993–1994) • Perryman (1994c) • Francis (1994–1997) • Hughton (1997c) • Gross (1997–1998) • Pleat (1998c) • Graham (1998–2001) • Pleat (2001c) • Hoddle (2001–2003) • Pleat (2003c) • Santini (2004) • Jol (2004–2007) • Allen (2007c) • Ramos (2007–) (c) caretaker (s) secretary-manager

v • d • e FC Basel – current squad 1 Costanzo • 3 Hodel • 4 Morganella • 7 Degen • 8 Huggel • 9 Perović • 10 Streller • 11 Chipperfield • 12 Ba • 14 Stocker • 16 Frei • 18 Crayton • 21 Marque • 22 Ergić • 23 Eduardo • 24 Cabral • 25 Leutwiler • 28 Ferati • 30 Carlitos • 31 Derdiyok • 32 Zanni • -- Gündüz • -- Schürpf • -- Sommer • Coach: Gross