By Roberto Lamprecht and Robert Matiebel
Relegation, fear of licensing, change of investors, financial shock, upcoming layoffs – in the first year of his term of office, Hertha President Kay Bernstein (42) experienced many negative developments.
BZ wanted to interview Bernstein on the urgent issues. The club was willing to answer written questions. Read the statements below:
BZ: How much responsibility do you have for Hertha’s relegation? What did you do right, what did you do wrong or would you do it differently in hindsight?
Amber: We Herthan win together and we lose together. It’s always a team effort. Both on and off the pitch. We didn’t manage to use the existing qualities together and consistently. We have to acknowledge the reality and do many things much better. That is our task.
Hertha’s head coach Pal Dardai (l) and Hertha’s President Kay Bernstein Photo: dpa/picture-alliance
As a fan, how much does relegation to the second division hurt you?
It hurt a lot to see the tears of the fans and to feel the hugs. Of course, I also have to struggle with this great disappointment myself. In sport you have to deal with defeats and fortunately you always have a chance to make amends. We will do everything we can to return to the Bundesliga as soon as possible. The historic audience record and the great increase in membership give us enormous strength.
How do you rate the relegation as president? Does he throw Hertha back by years? Or do you see in it the positive effect for a new beginning, because you can reduce or even cancel overpriced contracts that could have overwhelmed Hertha in the future…
A descent is bad on many levels and certainly not positive. In addition, the enormous financial legacy forces us to carry out a thorough renovation of our club, regardless of the league. In some areas, the descent creates even more clarity in this great challenge.
Will you hire a general manager for the finance department?
As of today, no, that is currently not planned.
You started with many ideas as the new Hertha President. Which of these ideas have you actually implemented so far?
The entire presidium answered questions about this at the most recent general meeting. In spite of a hamster wheel of conflicts constantly turning at high speed, we have achieved quite a few things. This goes from the good internal cooperation of all bodies to improving communication with members and fans and including the Hertha Stadium in the coalition agreement to defining the Berlin way for a better future of our club.
Horror and sadness among the Hertha professionals after the final whistle in the 1-1 draw against Bochum, which meant relegation Photo: Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP
Her personal website wirherthaner.de, on which her election program could be read, no longer exists. Instead, wirherthaner.de redirects you to the Hertha BSC website. Why is that?
The principle of our actions is to define the well-being of Hertha BSC as the most important motivation for every single decision. At the end of the season, the club had the idea of using “Wir Herthaner” in club communication. I was happy to support that.