Thomas Schaaf is a counter-example
The counter-example took place almost at the same time on the Bremen coaching bench. At the age of 60, Thomas Schaaf didn’t need to be asked before the last matchday to take over SV Werder, who were in dire straits from relegation after serving as technical director for his home club.
Schaaf brought back his longtime assistant coach, Wolfgang Rolff, and went to the training camp in Barsinghausen – but many things seemed as if time had stood still. Neither rhetoric nor tactics caught on with him, and the time was too short for that.
The mission went wrong for Otto Rehhagel
It is fitting that Schaaf’s teacher, the great Otto Rehhagel, also failed to make a successful comeback: at the capital city club Hertha BSC. In February 2012, the then manager Michael Preetz committed “King Otto” in dire need.
When he arrived, Rehhagel was received almost like a messiah, even though he was already 73. The experiment went awry. With Rehhagel, Hertha slipped from 15th place to relegation rank in twelve games and failed dramatically against Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Udo Lattek and Jupp Heynckes were still successful
The return of Udo Lattek was just as spectacular. In 1993, the old master had actually retired from the coaching business and only worked as a TV expert.
Then – at the age of 65 – he helped Borussia Dortmund again from mid-April 2000 as an interim coach until the end of the season. His assistant back then: Matthias Sammer. The five games were enough for Lattek, who died at the end of 2015, to consolidate his legendary status.
Jupp Heynckes also did not resist the temptation to prove himself in the Bundesliga at an older age. The then 72-year-old had actually already settled into his coach’s pension on his converted farm.
“A matter of the heart” it was, he couldn’t turn down his fourth engagement with the Munich team, Heynckes later said. He won the championship title again, and in the summer of 2018 it was finally over.
Source: with dpa