Christian Heidel has been back in responsibility at 1. FSV Mainz 05 since December 2020. A good year earlier, the former manager of FC Schalke 04 suffered a stroke.
In an interview with SPOX and Goal, Heidel talks about a vacation with Jürgen Klopp, the most negative image Mainz has ever given and problems with the miners.
The 58-year-old also talks openly and in detail about the stroke he suffered in 2019, thoughts about death and his stressful job.
Mr. Heidel, how was it on vacation in Mallorca with Jürgen Klopp?
Christian Heidel: Very nice and very funny. We have known each other for over 30 years. After he decided to spend his days off there, I helped him a little to find a place to stay. As luck would have it, it wasn’t far from the place where my family lives. We saw each other a lot, but didn’t get on the plane together.
Do you both talk a lot about football then?
Heidel: Sure, that’s always an issue. We also watched two or three European Championship games together. But we look like fans and cheer instead of analyzing the games in detail. It is also about who has met or knows whom, for example.
When you think of your times together in Mainz: How much does Klopp regret that as a private person he can no longer live as freely as he once did at the FSV?
Heidel: Of course, only he can answer that himself, but that was already an issue for us – but back in 2005 when the question was whether he would play the German World Cup a year later ZDF should analyze. We talked about it for a long time. I said: If you do that, you have to expect that every German will soon know you and not just the football fans as before – with all the advantages and disadvantages. He was confident that he could handle it and stay the way he is. He has sufficiently proven that this is the case.
However, it has now also taken on the dimension that papparazzi are now ambushing it for holiday photos.
Heidel: When professional photographers lie in the bushes somewhere and wait for you, it is of course uncomfortable and annoying. Unfortunately, that cannot be ruled out. It’s routine for Jürgen, he doesn’t even know life without the public anymore. He has become a completely public person, but has kept his sympathetic and authentic way of dealing with people.
You are now both back in the football business after joining your heart club Mainz 05 in December as a board member for strategy, sport and communication after a break of more than one and a half years. You said a comeback at FSV wasn’t part of your plans. What was the plan?
Heidel: The return to Mainz wasn’t just a little bit unplanned, it wasn’t planned at all. I took care of my family, who have often been neglected over the years. I enjoyed that tremendously. I hadn’t set myself any limit as to how long the professional break lasted. I could also have imagined doing nothing at all or doing something completely outside of football. I was completely free of pressure and open in every direction.
And then you’re back to the old, familiar cycle.
Heidel: Exactly. What I didn’t really want was exactly what I did now. (laughs) It wasn’t easy for me to leave Mallorca. I just learned to love this island and always get upset when you only think of the Ballermann when you think of Mallorca. I made great new friends there and there is just a different attitude towards life.
Did you have any offers from football?
Heidel: I’m not one of those people who always calls the press when you get an offer or have an inquiry. I could have taken on new jobs very often, including in the Bundesliga, but it just wasn’t my plan. I also canceled Mainz 05 at first and then decided to do so. It’s just a little bit my baby after so many years together.
A few months before you returned, something happened that had never actually happened before: Mainz 05 produced negative headlines throughout Germany as a result of the players’ strike. How did you take it back then?
Heidel: At first, like every outsider, I couldn’t explain it to myself. I continued to live in Mainz for half of the year, so I talked to some of them about it. Nevertheless, it was almost incomprehensible for me. Only after my return did I understand a little what happened. The picture that the club gave was not good. But that goes deep inside the club and the team. Some players say it was unavoidable and others say, looking back today, that it was a mistake anyway. It is important that today we are very much in agreement that it is the past and that something like this will not be repeated.
Was this the most negative image the club has ever seen?
Heidel: Yes, you can see it that way. That didn’t fit at all with the picture of Mainz 05. There was nothing like that in football Germany and then of all places in tranquil Mainz. It’s really ticked now.
Would you also have promised Mainz if it hadn’t been clear that with Martin Schmidt as sports director and Bo Svensson as coach, you are joining the club, two people who almost know him by heart?
Heidel: Clear no. The real plan was for Rouven to stay with Schröder. Unfortunately, he then decided differently, but you have to accept and respect that. Then the topic was settled for me too, but my head kept working and the idea with Bo and Martin arose. In my opinion, that was the last cartridge and condition for my return: the three of us together with the full conviction and approval of everyone in the club.
