Fotheringham becomes Hertha’s assistant coach
With his typical hard hand, Felix Magath wants to save Hertha BSC from relegation from the Bundesliga at the end of the season. “Discipline is part of sport, I can’t change that, I didn’t invent it,” said the 68-year-old when he was introduced as the new head coach of the Berlin crisis club on Monday. In the coming weeks he will not demand discipline for himself or his “happiness”, but for Hertha BSC, said Magath after his surprising comeback on the Bundesliga stage after almost ten years.
In his opening statement, Magath warned of further disputes and conflicts within and outside of the squad, which was classified as difficult to train. “I hope it’s clear to everyone that in the next few weeks it’s about Hertha BSC, not Felix Magath or Fredi Bobic. It’s about the club being in a situation where they need broad support, the players need support,” said the 68-year-old.
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Recently, in addition to the sporting descent to 17th place with five defeats in a row and no win in 2022 at Hertha, there were also public disputes and differences of opinion – right up to the presidency and million-dollar investor Lars Windhorst.
The team had recently made a “somewhat uncoordinated” impression on him, said Magath, who oversees his eighth Bundesliga club in Berlin and is catching up with record holders Otto Rehhagel and Jörg Berger. For precise plans for the sporting upswing, however, he still has to get to know the players better. He described the fact that the team had his first day off as a “beauty mark”.
Sorted by transfer fee: Under or from players signed by Felix Magath
The first game under Magath is on Saturday (3:30 p.m. / Sky) against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Seven more games and possibly two more relegation games will follow by the end of the season. He has not planned to stay in Berlin for a longer period of time, emphasized Magath, who has a new assistant coach, Mark Fotheringham, on the bench.
“When making the selection, it was particularly important to me that I have a man at my side who, in contrast to me, is a bit younger,” explained Magath, who thinks that Fotheringham is even closer to the players’ feelings than he. The 38-year-old Scot, who played for SC Freiburg in the 2005/06 season, was a player at Fulham FC in 2014 under Magath. He worked as an assistant coach at Karlsruher SC and FC Ingolstadt, among others, with Tomas Oral. “So he speaks perfect German. There are no communication difficulties. At most, it could become problematic with English,” said Magath jokingly, referring to the Scottish dialect.
The former master coach of FC Bayern Munich and VfL Wolfsburg admitted that the comeback was a surprise for him too. “In and of itself, I no longer wanted to work as a coach in the Bundesliga. On the other hand, I describe myself as an athlete, as a footballer. I’ve done almost nothing else in my life. I can’t help it. I’m a soccer player, I want soccer. I’m able to adapt to situations,” said Magath.
Bobic on Magath-Coup at Hertha BSC: Played with the idea for a long time
Magath’s surprising commitment as head coach of Hertha BSC was not a knee-jerk reaction. “I’ve been toying with the idea for a long time. It is the duty of care towards the employer, towards Hertha BSC, that of course I always have to think about what could happen if,” said sporting director Bobic and added: “You don’t always have to follow the usual reflexes, you also have to follow your intuition or the experience that I have had over ten years now.”
Bobic was also pleased that the capital club managed to keep Magath’s return to the Bundesliga a secret until the end. “I was very happy that we managed to do it together calmly, quietly and in full secrecy,” said the 50-year-old, who sees Magath as the perfect man for the table-17. To save Hertha from relegation.
From Favre to Magath: The 17 Hertha coaches since 2007
Magath was introduced on Sunday evening as the successor to the hapless Tayfun Korkut and received a contract until the end of the season. In the days before the last crisis duel against Gladbach (0: 2) last Saturday, Bobic also had talks with Friedhelm Funkel, according to the “kicker”, who had saved 1. FC Köln last year. The name of ex-coach Lucien Favre (most recently BVB) was also discussed internally. At the beginning of the year, Bobic also contacted Roger Schmidt (PSV Eindhoven) and Niko Kovac (most recently AS Monaco), who, however, were not available, especially not for an immediate engagement.
Bobic described Magath, who went down in Bundesliga history as “Quälix” and “Schleifer”, as the ideal solution for the successor to Korkut, who was perceived as too soft. After the 0:2 in Mönchengladbach, the situation was analyzed in such a way that “we now have to reset everything to zero. For that we needed a football coach with a lot of experience, a strong personality, someone who advocates discipline, has a clear, hard hand and demands that when dealing with the players. That’s what Felix Magath stands for,” said Bobic.
“For me it was simply about getting the right person,” said Bobic: “For me, Felix Magath was never out of the window or gone.” You have to “always deal with all the possibilities,” said the former professional.
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