Such has been Frank Schmidt’s longevity in charge of FC Heidenheim that already in this season’s Conference League Chelsea have flirted with blooding a player with fewer years on Earth than he has in the job.
Schmidt, a former player at German football’s miracle club, took the helm in September 2007, a month before Shim Mheuka, the teenage forward who made Chelsea’s bench at Panathinaikos in October, was even born.
