Aufschlag Zastrow
Aufschlag Zastrow is the Handelsblatt column of SPORT+MARKT Executive Director Hartmut Zastrow. It is published every second monday in the Sport Business sector of the Handelsblatt. Here is the Aufschlag Zastrow of the issue from 2011-05-16:
It is wrong to judge club managers based on sporting success alone. A well-managed club can even take relegation on the chin.
Hannelore Kohl once said how difficult it was to make the change from normal working life to a public position as wife of the German Chancellor. Superficial impressions and opinions on her husband’s work also affected the way she was perceived. The managers of Bundesliga clubs are well acquainted with the feeling – they are often not judged on their own actual performance.
Eintracht Frankfurt was relegated from the Bundesliga at the weekend. Why? Because Chairman Heribert Bruchhagen is old-fashioned, calls all the shots himself and doesn’t invest enough cash in the squad – according to some of the media, at least. Half a year ago, Frankfurt were seventh – and the very same Heribert Bruchhagen was praised.
The opposite was true at Borussia Mönchengladbach. After the first half of the season, the club was at the bottom of the league and the management had their backs to the wall. A protest campaign spearheaded by former player Stefan Effenberg emerged as a possible remedy. However, Borussia have now given themselves a chance of survival by reaching the relegation playoff. The campaign is already being viewed critically and the job done by the management maybe wasn’t so bad after all...
Strategy, patience and sustainability are all things Bundesliga clubs like to demand – and with justification. However, at the same time, after a few matches without a win, drastic measures are called for – a perspective which calls into question the whole club environment. Whether or not the chairman or a manager responsible for the club’s finances is doing a good job is often only measured based on the position in the table. However, this is unfair. Thanks to Bruchhagen, Eintracht, who were once on the brink of financial ruin, are now in tip-top economic shape. He has successfully cleaned up the club, which was on the slide due to the purchase of expensive players – and they have enough substance to make a quick return to the top flight.
Bruchhagen now also shares the direct responsibility for sporting matters at Eintracht. Quite rightly, he has to ask himself some difficult questions following relegation. However, the situation is being taken to extremes by his own board of directors. Even before the last day of the season, rumours that Bruchhagen should be joined by a sporting director in the event of relegation were spreading. It’s absurd. The work of a club boss cannot solely be judged on whether his team wins or loses a single match.
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