“Completely blindsided”: Dino Toppmöller reveals explosive details about the dismissal in France

After triumph in the Super Cup and a victory in the Champions League, Dino Toppmöller was suddenly sacked by RC Lens. The former Frankfurt coach has now spoken about the background to it.

Speaking on his advisory agency's podcast, "Spielmacher von 360Media", the 45-year-old explained the circumstances behind his exit from the French top-flight club after only six competitive matches. The move came as a huge surprise. Toppmöller had opened by leading the club to victory in the French Super Cup against serial champions Paris Saint-Germain and, shortly before his dismissal, had overseen an away win in the Champions League at Slavia Prague.

At that stage, the mood inside the club seemed fine. According to Toppmöller, president Joseph Oughourlian called the dressing room straight after the away win to express his delight. In Toppmöller’s view, back then "everyone was absolutely euphoric" and the president was "incredibly happy, incredibly proud".

That changed during a two-hour conversation, when sporting director Jean-Louis Leca and general director Benjamin Parrot told the head coach they wanted to part ways with his long-serving assistant coach Nelson Morgado. The management viewed the 39-year-old assistant as "too demanding, too loud, rubs too many people up the wrong way". Morgado was a "disruptive factor" for the internal atmosphere within the coaching staff.

Club leaders then gave Toppmöller an ultimatum: either he cut ties with his close confidant or they would make a change in the head coach position. Toppmöller said the meeting itself remained objective. He said: "The conversation over those two hours was a very harmonious one. They wanted to convince me that it would also be better for me and for the whole group."

Why was Dino Toppmöller sacked by RC Lens?

For Toppmöller, though, giving up his assistant was never an option. "If I had seen that some extreme misconduct had taken place, then of course I could not have tolerated that. But it simply wasn’t the case," he said, rejecting the demand from the club’s hierarchy.

That immediately brought his spell in France to an end. The former Frankfurt coach continued: "You don’t just give that up like that. But if I had had to violate values, then I would accept that in that moment I wouldn’t have a job." He added: "For me, it wasn’t worth considering dropping someone who had done nothing extraordinary. And that’s why it is important to me that even today I can still look at myself in the mirror, instead of standing on the touchline."

His family also met the decision with disbelief. His father Klaus Toppmöller, a former Bundesliga striker and himself a coach for many years, including at Frankfurt, Bochum and Leverkusen, said of his son's dismissal: "Are they completely out of their minds?"

Even after two spells of leave within a calendar year, Toppmöller wants a swift return to the touchline. He ruled out a longer break: "I don’t need a year off now."