Younger Faster Better Stronger
By: Abby | June 29th, 2009“Hertha has to become like the city of Berlin: young, passionate, brave, open and direct.” So says Michael Preetz, the new Berlin manager. And it’s hard not to agree with him- while Berlin has turned into one of the world’s coolest cities, Hertha itself has been stuck in the image of die Alte Dame. Old, grey, and ignored.
He thinks he knows what’s gone wrong- that in the years since Hertha was promoted, the club focused too much on intra-club issues and ignored how the city around it was changing. Matching the team to the city has long been a goal of Hertha management, but Preetz has a few things on his side compared to the old regime. He was a popular player at Hertha itself, rather than another club, he’s young (for a manager), and he’s got a fresh outlook. The idea that renewal has started is potent in making it actually happen.
What he doesn’t have is much money to renew the squad. One free transfer has been made, but that’s all the activity in the transfer window so far. Training started up again just recently for players not away with their national teams at all- the first Bundesliga club to start, as opposed to slacking on the beach like me- and the only other new face was youngster Fanol Perdedej, who’s been promoted to the first team. The youth squads are set to become an even more important part of the new Hertha. Without the money to buy stars we’ve got to breed them.
As far as outgoing? Well, apparently Josip Simunic wants to leave. He had an incredible last season and I don’t want him to go, but I’m not panicking yet. I’ve been writing this blog for two seasons now, and at each transfer window Joe’s on his way out. So far, he hasn’t left. When things get more serious I’ll actually start to be concerned. For now…
Speaking of national teams, there have been a few Hertha representatives at the U-21 Euro championship that concluded today. Unfortunately, Patrick Ebert, with a toe injury, was left on the bench while his teammates won the tournament, and Gojko Kacar, while personally impressive, left early with Serbia. There’s talk that both of them are on the radar of larger clubs than us, so we’ll see how that goes.
Category: Team News
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I’m hopeful that Big Joe will stay, but given some of the clubs linked to him, he might find the option to leave hard to resist. Turning down mediocre EPL teams is one thing, but would he say no to Bayern Munich (linked to him yesterday)? Here’s hoping…
Posted from
United Kingdom
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It is becoming more and more difficult to hang on to players, there is just too much money in the Premiership it is hard to compete.
Posted from
United States -
What a timing Abby. BILD announced that Simunic joins Hoffenheim for €7m (his buyout clause that always loomed large over his head in previous seasons as well).
Now, with all due respect to Joe, but he stated that he wanted to play Champions League football or win titles, so I always thought he would either move to a big club, or settle for a midtable EPL side with a hefty pay rise as compensation. But Hoffenheim… he’ll earn €3m compared to €2.6m at Hertha, so not much of an improvement there.
But at least Hertha finally have funds to invest in the squad, while it’s up to the man from the mountain to keep his good form he showed late in the season.
Posted from
Germany
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