Still the most decorated Swiss club, Grasshopper have been on a steady decline for the better part of the last fifteen years. They had a massively disappointing 2017/18 season, but went into the new campaign with cautious optimism, as the experienced Thorsten Fink took over as their manager near the end of the previous campaign.
The former Bayern Munich star was never able to deliver an European push, with the Zurichers spending the majority of the first half of the season next-to-last in the table. With Xamax eventually improving and the Zurichers continuing to struggle, they dropped to the bottom of the table early in the spring season and never recovered.
Fink never really delivered the improvements he was expected to deliver, but was still given until early March to try and turn the side's fortunes around.
His replacement Tomislav Stipic also failed to deliver the goods, and the Zurichers opted to replace him with the experienced Uli Forte, with the goal of his appointment being to stabilize the club and deliver a swift return to the top flight.
Grasshopper's season was also marred by numerous off-field issues. The club's sporting director has resigned, as well as several members of the board, while sections of their fans caused two games to be abandoned by rioting.
The Zurich giants are therefore at a low point in their history, but are determined to bounce back. A huge task awaits Forte, as nothing but a swift return to the top flight would do.
