Felix Magath returns to the Bundesliga as a coach. What reads like a joke is now reality at Hertha BSC – and it exposes the behavior of an industry in which too much money flows for too little performance. A comment.
What Hertha BSC did on Sunday, most other Bundesliga clubs don’t achieve in a full season: at half past eleven in the morning the club announced the dismissal of coach Tayfun Korkut, at half past two in the afternoon investor Lars Windhorst got involved in a customary debate on Twitter and just chatted out internals like that. And then at half past eight in the evening the grand finale: the Berliners replace Korkut with Felix Magath.
It’s a bold screenplay that Fredi Bobic is writing. Many observers thought Magath’s installation was a joke, but in fact it is now the case that the 68-year-old should protect Hertha from relegation. A coach who was last successful at Schalke eleven years ago, but then went down badly with his other clubs and part-time commitments – in Fulham there was talk of a “reign of madness” – and who has not looked after a team for five years Has.
Hertha BSC: Bobic follows a learned reflex
The setup is strikingly reminiscent of Schalke’s attempt to get things going with Christian Gross last season. Or my own story ten years ago with Otto Rehhagel. The ending is known.
You can understand Hertha’s decision in a certain way: there is hardly any time left this season, it’s over in eight match days and by then the Berliners have to leave at least one other team behind in order to at least make it into the relegation round.
The new trainer will hardly have a chance to change everything in terms of content or to implement new ideas. And he should only stay until the end of the season, regardless of league affiliation. That’s why the grid when looking for a trainer was clear: It has to be a so-called fireman. Someone who can help immediately and ideally has a lot of experience in such situations. And then there are not many trainers left, who are also available.
Bobic followed a learned reflex, and of course that can go well with Magath and Hertha avoid relegation and thus also the sporting meltdown – because nothing else would be going into the second division after the outrageous investments of recent years.
But Bobic’s decision is also incredibly revealing for the Bundesliga business worth billions.
Professional football is and will remain a money-burning machine
In the long period that Magath hasn’t been able to show any more success – before he reappears out of nowhere – around 250 candidates have acquired their FIFA Pro license in the coaching academy of the German Football Association. There is no shortage of German-speaking, mostly young, but definitely highly motivated coaches who not only speak the language of the players, but are very close to the Bundesliga simply because of their age and their affinity for the job.
But a selection of these candidates should also be known in the event of an emergency, have accompanied them in the background for a while, deal with their work and their CV and provide internal resources for this.
This is the case in any well-organized business enterprise. In the Bundesliga, however, the old patterns, which are comfortable for decision-makers, persist. Because it’s like this: In order to get Felix Magath as a rescuer in a very precarious situation and to fill him with the most important position in a club, you don’t need a scouting department, a sports director, external consultants, whisperers or any sporting one at all expertise.
Ultimately, all you need for this is Magath’s phone number. You could safely save the many millions for the experts in the club. But professional football is what it is: a gigantic money-burning machine.
