DAUM Mentor to the men seeking revenge on Rangers
Veteran Daum still pulls strings as Germans seek payback for 1998 Euro loss to Rangers
OVER two decades on from leading the club into its last European clash against Rangers, Christoph Daum retains both an influence in Bayer Leverkusen and considerable emotional investment.
Stars including brothers Robert and Niko Kovac, Carsten Ramelow, Ze Roberto and Ulf Kirsten weren’t enough for Leverkusen to overcome Rangers in the 1998 UEFA Cup Round of 32.
Dick Advocaat’s multi-million pound investments Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Arthur Numan and Andrei Kanchelskis left Daum at the mercy of the German media for a humiliating loss to a Scottish club.
The managerial nomad is confident now that, with head coach Peter Bosz at the helm and Marcel Daum a vital backroom team cog, the suffering of a similar shame can be avoided.
He should have an idea. For Daum senior is an invaluable confidante to Bosz. And to Marcel, regarded as the Bundesliga’s best data-driven brains, he is dad.
Daum’s rollercoaster 32-year career as manager featured 13 appointments at nine different clubs plus Romania. Cologne, Besiktas and Fenerbahce hired him twice.
The DFB was about to recruit him once. In 2000 to save the beleaguered national team on account of consistently great work at Leverkusen. A scandal over cocaine use cost him the gig.
His adventures, incidents, accidents and success lifting trophies would make Daum an intriguing sounding board as a coaching mentor at the age of 66. So he became one.
Bosz, reveals Daum, is not the only manager to lean on him. But he is one of the most high-performing, leading Leverkusen to the Champions League group stage and the Europa League last 16.
It’s very possible he could guide them all the way to the Europa League Final in Gdansk, according to Daum, who details his work with — and admiration for — the man plotting Rangers’ downfall.
‘Peter is a fantastic coach and, in particular, a great reader of a game,’ stressed Daum. ‘He’s an expert on this.
‘I’ve seen so many examples where, if it isn’t working well, this coach makes the right positional or tactical changes.
‘Rangers must be wary that this is a very flexible team. I was at their cup game in midweek against Union Berlin, who are such a physical team in comparison.
‘Leverkusen maybe have four of that type but the other six are speedy, technical.
‘Berlin scored first and physical power was winning in the worst first half of the season from Leverkusen.
‘Then you saw the qualities of Bosz. He altered the system and players, brought on Moussa Diaby and the whole match changed.
‘They won 3-1 because the head coach made the right adjustments.
‘He did the same against Düsseldorf recently. The winger on the right, Karim Bellarabi, had to keep coming to defend and it didn’t work. Bosz made the switches which closed that side down. They won 3-0.’
If there is tactical stalemate, Bosz still has £100million-rated wonder kid Kai Havertz (right) for freestyling inspiration.
‘Even if Rangers think they are in a good way with all the combinations in the game, there is Havertz,’ claimed Daum.
‘He makes unexpected passes within a split-second while you think you’re in control of the match. Then it all changes.
‘This team has the potential to go to the Europa League Final.’
Should Bosz encounter an obstacle on that journey and feels the counsel of Daum might help clear it, help will be at hand.
Daum explained: ‘It’s like I am the assistant of self-reflection. Now, I could say: “Look, I was in this situation, I did this and this positive result came out”. But I don’t want that.
‘I can give out my experiences but it will never work if you copy. You can use it only as input to your reflections. You have to be authentic. You can’t tell players something you’ve been told to tell them. Otherwise it’s not the real thing, nor the right feeling.
‘On the other hand, it’s good to have an alternative in your mind. Because there’s always an alternative.
‘And there’s always a positive in there in the most negative of moments.
‘Sometimes when you’re in a bad time, you don’t see the chance out. This is a process you have to learn.
‘What does this mistake mean? What does this defeat really tell me?
‘It helps that, as mentor, I am outside. I am not involved. I don’t have to go and win the next game. I can be like a partner, a friend, to this head coach.
‘Although I would never interfere without being asked. They’re doing a great job.’
In the immediate aftermath of defeat to Hearts, Steven Gerrard spoke of the need for thinking time to address where he and Rangers went from there.
That’s a predicament and a place Daum can appreciate the second-season Rangers boss wishing to extricate himself from.
‘It’s very important you come through this experience stronger,’ said the German.
‘It’s not all about going up. You’ll have moments when you are totally down.
‘Looking back at my career, okay, when I won trophies, I was happy.
‘But I learned more from negative moments. There was always more self-reflection in defeat.
‘Steven will be trying to figure out: “Why is this happening to me?”. It’s all part of a manager developing.
‘He is a unique person in football. I was in Istanbul for the 2005 Champions League Final. He said, as a competitor, this is not over.
‘It is very rare that you can change not only a match but influence the spirit of others to change lives.
‘Steven Gerrard has this influence. His personality made him a living example of how to be as a footballer.
‘It’s great to have someone like that along with you.’
Behind the scenes at Kurtekotten, Bayer 04’s training centre, Marcel Daum is crunching the numbers that will dictate how Bosz approaches the Rangers ties.
Daum junior was taken around World Cup finals games in France by his father at the age of 11 and often travelled with Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
Now, at 32, he is the most-coveted chief analyst in Germany. Bayern Munich tried to poach him, only for sporting director Rudi Voller to persuade him to sign until 2024.
In 2007, he got a leg-up from dad to work during his second spell at Cologne. Marcel then followed his father to Fenerbahce as assistant coach for analysis and research.
After Daum was unable to save Eintracht Frankfurt from relegation in a brief, emergency posting in 2011, it was the son they couldn’t face letting leave.
He stayed for five years, building a new, innovative department before coming ‘home’ to Leverkusen.
‘When I left Frankfurt, they asked me please, please could I influence Marcel to stay,’ said Daum.
‘He said normally he’d want to go with me. But I said you have so much experience and knowledge, I will always assist you even if we’re
not working together. You will be selected as Marcel Daum, no longer the son of the head coach. There’s a big difference.
‘He agreed to stay and from this time on became a totally independent person with a fantastic career in his own right.
‘Leverkusen came in for him. At Frankfurt, Fredi Bobic told me: “We need your son here. What can we do? Does he need more money?”.
‘I said: “Believe me, he just wants to come back for family”.
‘Last year, Bayern Munich came with a big offer and asked if Leverkusen would release him.
‘But Rudi said: “He may be our club’s best signing. There’s no way he can go”.
‘And Peter said he does an outstanding job analysing opponents and giving ideas to our players. That’s how he will prepare for Rangers.
‘His work goes far beyond analysis of how quick a player is, how many duels he’s won.
‘He figures out things that are not so obvious but which allow the team to enjoy a big influence on the match.
‘To add this, it gives you some advantage and that’s what Marcel has learned.
‘Sitting in on one of his meetings is incredible. He makes something that seems so complex sound so simple for the staff and players.’
Should those messages be carried out to victorious effect at Ibrox on Thursday, Marcel will beat dad’s effort for Leverkusen.
Daum’s team drew 1-1 in Glasgow 22 years ago after losing the first leg 2-1 in Germany.
‘That Rangers team could easily have competed among top teams in the Premier League,’ he recalled. ‘Dick Advocaat did a great job playing for the draw at Ibrox. ‘Playing in the Ibrox atmosphere was always one of the most impressive experiences in Europe.
‘My first time there with Cologne, we eliminated them and the crowd gave applause to us!
‘I’d never experienced that before. Rangers is always very special in my heart.’