Jurgen Klinsmann
Out after 76 days as Hertha Berlin coach
“I cannot exploit my potential as a coach and thus cannot live up to my responsibility”
Jurgen Klinsmann and Lars Windhorst were supposed to herald a bright new dawn for Hertha Berlin. Klinsmann, the big-name former Germany striker, was hired in November by Windhorst, the businessman who had purchased a 49.9 per cent stake in the club and funded a major recruitment splurge in January.
But Klinsmann quit after just 76 days in charge.
The former Germany, USA and Bayern Munich boss, who had been appointed interim “trainer” until the end of the season, was not exactly a roaring success, winning only three of his nine Bundesliga matches at the helm. He departed with Hertha 14th in the table, six points above the relegation zone. A 3-1 home defeat to Mainz was seemingly the last straw for Klinsi, coming as it did a few days after a German Cup defeat to Schalke.
In a statement on Facebook he wrote: “In a relegation battle, unity, cohesion and focus are the most important elements. If they are not guaranteed, I cannot exploit my potential as a coach and thus cannot live up to my responsibility.”
It later emerged that Klinsmann had wanted to be appointed technical director in the summer and, hinting at tensions within the club hierarchy, he contrasted the role of a German “coach” to that of a British-style “manager”.
“As I understand it, a manager should have total sporting responsibility, including over transfers,” he said. “That gives the position more power but the system in Germany has developed differently with sporting directors.”
In a Facebook Live chat he said: “It bothered me that someone was always sat there commenting on players and refs. We were at loggerheads. Conditions were very difficult for me, perhaps because I’ve had other experiences in other countries. I’ve experienced life in Italy and France and England, of course.
“In Germany we’re used to having a manager on the substitutes bench at the side of the pitch and that he participates, that he’s there for the players, and keeps the door open for them. I wasn’t used to that anymore. I know the English model for a manager – they’re called managers in England, not coaches – has only one job and that’s being the boss of the club.
“They’re different in Germany, where everyone gets to have their say, everyone plays a role, the whole management structure. In the end only one can decide, and I feel it has to be the coach. And we disagreed there. Unfortunately we disagreed on many things.”
Klinsmann’s comments were seen as a direct attack on Michael Preetz, Hertha’s sporting director, whose position would have become untenable if the coach’s powers had been extended this summer, when further heavy expenditure in the transfer market was expected.
In Klinsmann’s short spell in charge, Hertha broke the Bundesliga record for money spent in the January transfer window, with €78m invested in Krzysztof Piatek (Milan, €27m), Matheus Cunha (RB Leipzig, €15m), Lucas Tousart (Lyon, €25m) and Santiago Ascacibar
(Stuttgart, €11m).
Klinsmann’s brief time at Hertha provoked a strong reaction from German media, with many questioning whether he will ever work in Germany again.
Though Klinsmann’s time in charge of the national side at the 2006 World Cup on home soil is fondly remembered, memories are fresh of his disastrous time at Bayern, where his new-age methods angered many players and resulted in a rare, trophyless season.