The World May Be Talking Hoffenheim

But Hoffenheim didn’t take any points from us.

The story of the Bundesliga- the attacking, free-flowing team from the tiny town- left Berlin with nothing. Love the story or hate it, they’ve proven their class on the pitch through the season and are, at the moment, a team to be taken seriously. So much so that 58,000 actually showed up for a Hertha game to see them.

Hopefully, they saw that the less-discussed team they can see every other week is worth watching, too. Quietly we’ve snuck up to fifth in the table, ahead of known qualities like Werder Bremen, Schalke 04, and VfB Stuttgart. We may not, at the moment, be as flashy as some of the other teams, but we’re building something.

Hertha v. Hoffenheim is an interesting comparison. Hoffenheim, from a small village unheard of outside of Germany, is getting the press- whether positive or negative, they’re getting written about. Everyone wants to see them and everyone seems to have an opinion. To their credit, they’ve done quite a lot right, especially in regards to scouting and team creation. They’ve taken players who were unappreciated elsewhere (including in Berlin) and turned them into an attractive, cohesive unit. They’ve got the attention that the team from Germany’s biggest city can only dream about right now. It can’t help but be a little embarrassing, considering.

True, they’ve done it all with someone besides the club footing the bill. But as much as I have in the past, and often still do, rail at the money being plowed into football teams without a thought for sustainability, I find it hard to dislike Dietmar Hopp and what he’s done. I think it’s because his is a personal story- he’s not just buying a team, he’s going back home. He’s connected to Hoffenheim. It’s sentimental rather than showing off. He’s doing what a lot of people with money would, if they could. And I’d be lying if I didn’t daydream about doing the same thing (perhaps with Hertha).

And, it’s hard to feel self-righteous. I have a feeling that if the rules about Bundesliga ownership were relaxed, Hertha would be one of the first to get snapped up by a wealthy buyer. It’s got a great location and the lease on a great stadium. As the only top-flight team in the city the size of Berlin, it’s bound to be attractive to the sort of buyer that buys Premiership clubs. Hertha is an underachiever with lots of potential, and a major investor would make a lot of it.

Hertha’s had a lot of issues in the past. There’s a past of scandal and the financial situation has never been ideal. The club has failed to capitalize on the success of the late 90s, and ticket sales have declined. The fans often rattle in the Olympiastadion. But there’s signs of revival- as Jan pointed out while I was away on business, things are looking pretty good right now bei Hertha. We’re fifth in the league, we’ve got a decent shot of making the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup, and we made a profit in the past year. We’ve made some good deals on transfers- thanks, Tottenham!- in both selling and buying (Maximillian Nicu and Gojko Kacar come to mind as pretty good deals). We’ve even found a few of our own teenagers who are pretty good. If we continue in this manner, things look good.

And speaking of scouting- Hertha apparently had a scout out in Austria to check out this guy. A possible replacement for a possibly Portsmouth-bound Pante? I’ll keep you posted…

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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