Comments on: The End of an Era http://hertha.theoffside.com/behind-the-scenes/the-end-of-an-era.html News from Hertha Berlin German football team Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:16:32 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Jan http://hertha.theoffside.com/behind-the-scenes/the-end-of-an-era.html#comment-1022 Jan Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:21:07 +0000 http://hertha.theoffside.com/behind-the-scenes/the-end-of-an-era.html#comment-1022 Great summary. I really only started to follow Hertha more closely with the signing of Lucien Favre, because he immediately caught my interest and I wanted to see what he could achieve with Hertha. So all I know about Hertha prior to the Favre era comes from what I read in the press and on some forums over the past two years. It seems that when Hoeness arrived at Hertha, the club was playing in the 2.Bundesliga and everything was a shambles, with no infrastructure or professional management. So he did well to change all that and establish the club in the Bundesliga. His tendency to be an absolutist ruler and decision maker may have even helped to get things done and shake things up back then. But he clearly wanted more than just establishing Hertha and the club will have to pay the bill for years to come. I presume the club already had some debt when he arrived and taking the necessary steps like building a new training centre and a youth academy and all that will also have required some borrowed money. But that doesn't excuse racking up big yearly deficits, which drive up debt or in some cases required Hertha to agree to signing fee deals and other things, which essentially meant selling Hertha's future revenue streams. If you ask Hoeness all of this is of course not his fault, instead higher forces were at work. TV deals breaking down or the world economy breaking down or whatever. In reality he was a gambler and the events he quotes just expose the ones who were taking the biggest gambles. That being said, there are more people than just Hoeness who oversaw and agreed to this risky financing, so there are others in for some blame as well I guess. Hoeness no other god beside me attitude obviously had run its course a long time ago and Favre seems to have been the first coach who really managed to stand up to Hoeness and his tendency to force his players on coaches. All in all, this was the best decision for Hertha, but the positive results may take longer to materialise than next season. And that will surely be an invitation for unreflected criticism by some "experts". :-) Great summary.

I really only started to follow Hertha more closely with the signing of Lucien Favre, because he immediately caught my interest and I wanted to see what he could achieve with Hertha. So all I know about Hertha prior to the Favre era comes from what I read in the press and on some forums over the past two years.

It seems that when Hoeness arrived at Hertha, the club was playing in the 2.Bundesliga and everything was a shambles, with no infrastructure or professional management. So he did well to change all that and establish the club in the Bundesliga. His tendency to be an absolutist ruler and decision maker may have even helped to get things done and shake things up back then.

But he clearly wanted more than just establishing Hertha and the club will have to pay the bill for years to come. I presume the club already had some debt when he arrived and taking the necessary steps like building a new training centre and a youth academy and all that will also have required some borrowed money. But that doesn’t excuse racking up big yearly deficits, which drive up debt or in some cases required Hertha to agree to signing fee deals and other things, which essentially meant selling Hertha’s future revenue streams. If you ask Hoeness all of this is of course not his fault, instead higher forces were at work. TV deals breaking down or the world economy breaking down or whatever. In reality he was a gambler and the events he quotes just expose the ones who were taking the biggest gambles. That being said, there are more people than just Hoeness who oversaw and agreed to this risky financing, so there are others in for some blame as well I guess.

Hoeness no other god beside me attitude obviously had run its course a long time ago and Favre seems to have been the first coach who really managed to stand up to Hoeness and his tendency to force his players on coaches.

All in all, this was the best decision for Hertha, but the positive results may take longer to materialise than next season. And that will surely be an invitation for unreflected criticism by some “experts”. :-)

]]> By: Abby http://hertha.theoffside.com/behind-the-scenes/the-end-of-an-era.html#comment-1021 Abby Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:12:31 +0000 http://hertha.theoffside.com/behind-the-scenes/the-end-of-an-era.html#comment-1021 I totally agree, Dan. He knows how to get the most of what Hertha has, and seems to be pretty committed now to the project. I totally agree, Dan. He knows how to get the most of what Hertha has, and seems to be pretty committed now to the project.

]]> By: Dan http://hertha.theoffside.com/behind-the-scenes/the-end-of-an-era.html#comment-1020 Dan Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:41:35 +0000 http://hertha.theoffside.com/behind-the-scenes/the-end-of-an-era.html#comment-1020 I couldn't be any happier that Favre is staying. He clearly understands how to work with a small budget club and, more importantly, that Hertha are a small budget club. I think having people in management that confused Berlin's status as a city with Hertha's status as a club, and acted accordingly has been responsible for a lot of problems over the years. I couldn’t be any happier that Favre is staying. He clearly understands how to work with a small budget club and, more importantly, that Hertha are a small budget club.

I think having people in management that confused Berlin’s status as a city with Hertha’s status as a club, and acted accordingly has been responsible for a lot of problems over the years.

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