Coach sets league record
Magath promises Hertha a tough time
03/14/2022, 3:18 p.m
Felix Magath is known and feared as “Quälix” – and just the right person for Hertha BSC. At least that’s what manager Fredi Bobic explains when presenting the coach who is supposed to save the capital club from relegation. For the 68-year-old, it’s a job he really didn’t want to do anymore.
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. 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 it needs broad support, the players support need,” said the 68-year-old.
Most 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.
Managing Director Fredi Bobic described Magath, who has gone down in Bundesliga history as “Quälix” and “Schleifer”, as the ideal solution for the successor to Tayfun Korkut, who was perceived as too soft. After the 2-0 defeat in Mönchengladbach, the situation was analyzed in such a way that “we now have to reset everything to zero. For this we needed a football coach with a lot of experience, a strong personality, someone who advocates discipline, a clear, showing a hard hand, and that is also required when dealing with the players. That’s what Felix Magath stands for,” said Bobic. He had toyed with the idea of getting Magath for a long time.
Magath doesn’t want to stay any longer
The team, which slipped down to 17th place, made a “somewhat uncoordinated” impression on him recently, said Magath, who looks after his eighth Bundesliga club in Berlin and is thus level with the 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”.
The first game under Magath is on Saturday (3.30 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Seven more games and possibly two more relegation games will follow by the end of the season. Magath emphasized that he had not planned to stay in Berlin for a longer period of time.
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 footballer, me I want football. I’m able to adapt to situations,” said Magath.
Magath is returning to the Bundesliga after a good nine years as a coach. Until Christmas 2012 he looked after VfL Wolfsburg, which he had led to the championship in 2009. After the Würzburg Kickers were relegated to the second division, Magath ended his engagement as Global Sports Director at main sponsor Flyeralarm in May last year.