Ried’s amazing turn of form in the play-offs was the main reason why they survived in what was difficult season that saw 2 managers being sacked.
Seriously impacted by COVD Ried failed to strengthen the squad last summer as much as they wanted and very slow start to the season suffered. Ried started the season with 5 defeats in the first 6 rounds and they sat bottom of the table for 8 rounds altogether.
Come mid-December coach Baumgartner was sacked and during the winter break Miron Muslic was installed as permanent manager. However, Muslic never won a game while in charge with Ried making 10-game winless start to 2021 (D3 L7).
As result Muslic was also sacked before the play-offs and the U23 coach Heraf was given the job only as caretaker for the post-season but he created magic straight away. Ried made 8-game unbeaten start to the play-offs (W3 D5) and this secured their safety with 2 games to spare after relegation looked pretty much certain only in mid-March.
All season striker Grull carried the burden in attack on his shoulders and only he and Nutz were effective up front, with their goals making survival possible. Captain Reifeltshammer had very shaky campaign in defence though and the veteran started showing signs that he is past his best years now.
After the play-off heroics Heraf was given the job permanently and he will look to build his own team for next season with Ried continuing to struggle seriously due to the financial impact caused by COVID. The most urgent replacement that will need to be found is for departing top scorer Grull.
