Hertha BSC Berlin: One Touch Football and One Touch Mood Swings

By: Jan | September 25th, 2007

Arne Friedrich - Lucien Favre Berlin’s general manager Dieter Hoeneß is the younger brother of Munich’s general manager Uli Hoeneß. Different to Ulrich, Dieter wasn’t treated to a nickname for some reason (Didi Hoeneß anyone?), and he wasn’t able to turn Berlin into a serious competitor for his older brother’s Bayern Munich either. Instead Berlin was a bit wasteful with its money, racked up some debt and then had to live of their youth academy. Half of the players coming from there were sold or left the club during the summer, to find new employees willing to pay salaries in accordance to their ego. This left Lucien Favre with a last minute shopping list by Hoeneß and the insight that “it is very hard to find good players at this late stage”. Rumours had it that he offered to resign before the season had even started. And the first match against Frankfurt seemed to perfectly reflect the chaotic situation in Berlin, as Raphael Honigstein summarised for the Guardian:

In Frankfurt, it was apparent that his favoured quick passing game was beyond his players’ capabilities. In desperation, they began hoofing it up the pitch, a tactic that only threatened the ball boys.

“Mission Impossible,” was the Berliner Zeitung’s verdict on Favre’s task at Hertha. And just like the opening credits of the TV series, the fuse is burning down fast. Hoeness, however, believes time is on their side. “The new manager is not a sparkler,” he said.

Favre, too, has asked for patience and reminded everybody that it took him 18 months to turn Zürich around. That’s a worryingly long time frame. But Hertha fans must be even more perturbed by Hoeness’s baseless optimism. “We are on course,” he said. On course for the relegation, no doubt.

Five matchdays later, Berlin beat Dortmund on Saturday moving them to second position in the table. And for Favre’s favoured quick passing, that was beyond the players’ capabilities, refer to the video below. A great example of one touch football and our inability to judge what is really going on behind the scenes of a football club.