interview
Heribert Bruchhagen was CEO of Eintracht Frankfurt from 2003 to 2016. In the HR interview he talks about his job as a sports manager, Markus Krösche and his handicap as a golfer.
hessenschau.de: Heribert Bruchhagen, welcome to an end-of-year discussion and an interview about what sports managers have to do between the years. One thing in advance: Communication has become much faster than when it was active; the media travels at the speed of light. Would you like to be a football manager again today?
Heribert Bruchhagen: Football has always been my elixir of life. So to say “no” now would be an exaggeration. But times have changed dramatically. And I no longer know whether the way I ran the club would still be appropriate today. At Eintracht I was personally responsible for media, manager and chairman of the board for at least nine years. I don’t want to call it a one-man show, but overall responsibility lay with me. And today the leadership of a Bundesliga club feels like it is spread across 20 shoulders. And I don’t know whether I could have lived with that. Probably not.
hessenschau.de: Because you preferred to hold the reins alone?
Bruchhagen: No, I also had confidants around me. In the sporting area, I worked very closely with Bruno Hübner and with the respective trainers. But the whole army today – at every throw-in, at every corner or any controversial decision, 40 people jump up behind Toppmöller. That wouldn’t have existed in my time, but the coach was the ultimate force with whom you exchanged ideas. Everything was much tighter, but that doesn’t mean it was better.
hessenschau.de: What do you miss about your job in the football business and what do you not miss at all?
Bruchhagen: What I don’t miss at all is the influence of the consultants. Of the 500 contracts that I have made in the 30 years of the Bundesliga, I have not once had an advisor share in the transfer proceeds. This completely disgusted me. There’s nothing wrong with paying 20 million to club But the consultant money is completely gone. They go to a third level and I could never have done that. That was certainly also a reason that I would no longer have been up to date with this position and this attitude. And I wasn’t flexible enough to change my attitudes towards football.
hessenschau.de: Okay, then back to the question of what are you missing?
Bruchhagen: Of course I miss being in the stadium more often and when “Eintracht von Main” is sung. But I have an honorary card from Eintracht Frankfurt, and that is of course a wonderful feeling, even on the way to the stadium. During my active time there were some critical words that were addressed. And that changed today. That means, despite the mildness of age, I get very positive reception on the way to the stadium.
hessenschau.de: Now comes the Christmas break, at least that’s what it’s officially called. Is there somehow a gentlemen’s agreement that the consultants don’t report on the holidays and the sports managers are left alone?
Bruchhagen: That is a fallacy. There is certainly a lull on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But then it starts again, and that is a highly active time. An open transfer window means you have to be awake from eight in the morning to ten in the evening. That’s the usual time.
hessenschau.de: That’s 14 hours a day. Is this the normal working hours even on Sundays and public holidays?
Bruchhagen: You’re not a roofer or a car mechanic. The manager’s job also has breaks. You read the press reviews in peace, you can smoke a cigarette even if you are a smoker, and you also have conversations in the company. You have to be present for twelve or fourteen hours. But the fact that I would now have to say that this job was particularly strenuous defies my imagination. I don’t think any manager in the Bundesliga is overworked; it’s always a good idea to have your photo taken in training camp with two cell phones attached to your ear, one on the right and one on the left. The media likes that, and that’s a good way to sell being very busy. In truth, this manager’s job is not stressful, it’s just the responsibility that weighs you down. But physically you can be awake for 14 hours, that’s no problem.
hessenschau.de: If there is so much to do in this transfer window between the years, when does a manager go on vacation? Does that even exist?
Bruchhagen: The holiday period is usually cheapest during the current season. Never in the transfer window, you just have to have the courage not to be at a game. A manager doesn’t do that for three or four weeks, you can’t stand it, you can just stay at home for an away game in Hoffenheim or something like that. The international season was actually the best time to go on vacation with the family.
hessenschau.de: What do you think of the sums that are now being traded not only in European but also in German football?
Bruchhagen: My highest-earning players were always Ioannis Amanatidis and Alex Meier. Meier was the top scorer in the Bundesliga and, I can also reveal, he earned just over a million a year. Today, ten years later, the number of reserve players who are not used is already in this range, not to mention the top players. These sums have increased exponentially. The market gives it. TV money has also exploded and is getting higher and higher, the income is getting higher, the stadiums are sold out, the money is there and then it is distributed. I can’t imagine it going on like this forever. At some point you have to calm down and think about the whole thing. And now comes my favorite sentence: the tide lifts all boats. This means that the reserve players and those whose quality does not actually justify a million-dollar salary will see their salaries increase. And if a club plays at Champions League level, such as Eintracht, then salaries also rise to a higher level. Of course you have to pay for that, because you also have two, three or four year contracts. So the problem is that you are ultimately forced to keep playing international football. I would be happy if I had had these problems, but it is also difficult to keep all the licensed players happy with this exploding budget. And that is certainly a solvable problem at the moment, but a problem of unity.
hessenschau.de: How do you assess Markus Krösche’s work at Eintracht?
Bruchhagen: Well, all you can say is: all respect. The board as a whole works convincingly. But I also know that it is not easy to maintain this condition. If you have been outstanding in the sporting field in the last three years, then expectations arise. Seventh place is a huge success for Eintracht Frankfurt, and if you don’t internalize that in those around you, then it’s the first step in the wrong direction and puts the people involved under so much pressure that they may no longer be able to make decisions confidently.
hessenschau.de: But in order to continue to pay the above-mentioned sums and to be able to play in this large orchestra, you have to reach international business. And seventh place is of course just the interface.
Bruchhagen: As a rule, you have to achieve it, yes, but you also have to reduce the costs if you don’t achieve it. Seventh place is and remains desirable. In my 13 years at Eintracht I think I came sixth or seventh two or three times, and those were always years of success. And now they want to sell seventh place as unsuccessful. I think that’s wrong. You can sometimes not play internationally for a year and then do it again the next year.
hessenschau.de: Christmas is associated with gifts. What do you wish for Eintracht?
Bruchhagen: I just wish Eintracht calmness and the ability to make realistic assessments. And then I have one more wish, because those pyro idiots always upset me. At some point an ultra generation has to grow up that simply says, we’re not using pyrotechnics, and with that we can still achieve a lot and do much, much more for ourselves and for everyone. The next generation is apparently not yet in a position to make such a decision, but one should not give up hope. So I wish Eintracht sporting success and that the great fan behavior is not tarnished by a few complete idiots who believe that a football game should be supplemented with illumination, with torches. What a fallacy.
hessenschau.de: Another personal question: What is your current handicap in golf?
Bruchhagen: We can talk about anything, but please not about this topic. I can’t do it. Please leave it at that. I play golf two or three times a week and bottom line, I can’t do it.
hessenschau.de: But they apparently enjoy it so much that they don’t want to stop.
Bruchhagen: Yes, people torment themselves and also like to suffer.
The interview was conducted by Markus Philipp.
