Max Eberl target wild attacks
The trickiest reunion of the Bundesliga season
3/9/2023 5:03 p.m
The charge is sharp. It is backed up with hate posters in the stadiums and wild insults on the internet. RBL manager Max Eberl betrayed football for numerous fans of football tradition. On Saturday he goes against his old club. Unrest can be expected.
Max Eberl is silent. Before the reunion with ex-club Borussia Mönchengladbach, the sports director of RB Leipzig, who is actually quite camera-savvy, avoids the limelight. There would be a lot to talk about. The Bundesliga game on Saturday (3.30 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) would only be a side issue. Rather, it is about credibility, integrity, hostility and humanity. A reflection of the football business, so to speak, which cheers, turns to the wind and spits out mercilessly in the end. Max Eberl would certainly have a lot to say about this.
For 23 years in Gladbach he was the fighter against the overwhelming powers of the industry. Borussia, which for a long time had little to offer apart from tradition and a glorified view of the past, helped Eberl as a tireless player and later as an equally busy manager to a small renaissance. He was nothing less than an identification figure. But at some point things didn’t go smoothly anymore. Then came January 28, 2022. “I just want to get out, I don’t want anything to do with football. I want to be Max Eberl,” said Eberl – and left.
But when the first rumors about an engagement in Leipzig surfaced just a few months later, sympathy for Eberl turned into deep dislike in many places. Little has changed to this day, and before the game in Leipzig his ex-club even feels compelled to call its own supporters to reason. “We don’t want to deny anyone the right to express their opinion, but we expect this to take place above the waistline,” said Managing Director Stephan Schippers.
The credibility is gone
Apparently you’re feeling bad. After all, there were extremely unsavory posters against Eberl at the games in Cologne and against Union Berlin. “It drains from me. Who it hits more: my parents,” Eberl commented on an action. Coach Marco Rose appealed not to give “these hollow rollers” a platform. Nevertheless, his current employer has no plans to examine the guest supporters more thoroughly before entering the stadium. Like the other games against Gladbach, the game was classified in the “yellow” category, it said.
What certainly fuels dislike for Eberl is the half-life of his opinions. While the 49-year-old was still saying in 2016 that “this pushing of players from Salzburg to Leipzig” bothers him when it comes to lawn ball sports, he signed Nicolas Seiwald from Salzburg on his very first transfer in Leipzig. “I said something about it as an opponent at the time,” said Eberl when asked. He conveys no different image than those players who kiss the coat of arms on their shirt after a goal, but have in fact signed somewhere else a long time ago. That’s just the business, everything else is naive.
Economically and in terms of one’s own ambitions, all of this is understandable. However, Eberl’s credibility can be described as tarnished. In addition, when he left Gladbach, he emphasized that he wanted to “get out of the mill”. It doesn’t really fit that he is now apparently in a position with even more power, responsibility and pressure to succeed than before.
The grace period has expired
On the day of the game against Gladbach, Eberl is in office for 100 days as the sporting sole ruler at RB. If he were a politician, the grace period would be over. In Leipzig he has had a mixed record so far. The employees rave about Eberl as a person, he combines openness and competence. From day one, Eberl spoke publicly of “we”, making it unmistakably clear who his heart is beating for, at least temporarily.
So far he is the face of the club that ex-boss Oliver Mintzlaff wanted, the sporting success made this part of the work easier, of course. In addition, Eberl created a homely environment for himself, which was completed with the recent commitment of his friend Rouven Schröder as sports director.
When it comes to transfers, Eberl must increase. Apart from Seiwald’s uninspired commitment, the head of sport failed to increase the squad, which coach Rose often described as small, in January. Instead, he received rejections, including from Liverpool FC for a return campaign by Naby Keita. This could now have serious consequences, because the long-term absences of Dani Olmo, Christopher Nkunku and Xaver Schlager can hardly be compensated for. Eberl will probably explain on Sunday how the goals for the season can still be achieved. He likes to talk again and has agreed to appear on TV.