Christian Heidel returned to Mainz almost four years after his departure to FC Schalke 04.
Heidel worked very successfully with the 05ers from 1992 to 2016 and was instrumental in helping Mainz 05 establish itself in the Bundesliga.
After three and a half months at Rheinhessen, the 57-year-old takes stock of the rocky road with the FSV in the relegation battle and the goal of “staying up”. He also reveals why coach Bo Svensson is not for sale and which club he keeps his fingers crossed for in the premier class.
SPORT1: Mr. Heidel, you said when you took office earlier this year that you were not the Savior and Messiah. But after three and a half months on hand, Mainz is suddenly in fifth place in the second half of the table. How can this be explained?
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Heidel: It certainly doesn’t work with the laying on of hands and I’m still not the Savior. This intermediate stage that we have now reached is simply due to the hard work of very, very many. First and foremost, this is thanks to the team. Who simply implements what Bo Svensson gives her on the pitch. From this, when a sense of achievement comes, there is simply a unity and a great belief in what we are doing. That leads to great self-confidence and then automatically to success. But still, I repeat myself in every interview: We just haven’t won anything. If we lose the next six games, we’ll be almost back to where we started.
“I didn’t have to explain to Bo and Martin Mainz 05”
SPORT1: But the fact that you are now only behind Leipzig, Bavaria, Frankfurt and Wolfsburg in terms of points is huge. Is it perhaps also because you, Martin Schmidt and Bo Svensson know exactly, especially you, where the trigger points are at Mainz 05 and in this city?
Heidel: When I thought about it in December, it was a bit of the idea that I had to find people who actually didn’t have to think about it from day one. Who know this city, this club and also this team. If you had brought in someone who didn’t know all this, they would of course have said after four or five weeks: “I had to feel at home first, acclimatise myself, get to know the club and the players.” Because of this large backlog, it was actually clear to me that only one model had a chance where this was not possible. I didn’t have to explain Mainz 05 to Bo and Martin. I didn’t have to explain it to myself either, because in the end I know everything here. We could start from day one. A few changes, exits, additions and then the mail went off. Luck is also part of it, but luckily it worked right from the start. I admit that I didn’t expect that after a few games we would be out there or at least be above the grain.
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Heidel: “That’s our goal!”
SPORT1: In the second half of the season Mainz got four points more than Dortmund, nine more than Gladbach or Leverkusen. It’s hard to imagine at the moment that the team will fall into a hole again, right?
Heidel: I find this view very dangerous. Such a trend actually only leads to self-confidence. But if it leads to arrogance, this trend ends again very quickly. That’s what we tell the guys too. Something like that has to be completely out of the mind. Better to go to the game against Hertha on Sunday as if it were the last. From attitude and everything. But you shouldn’t deal with trends. Because if a trend were always the basis for success, then no one should lose who has won two games in a row. A trend is very, very quickly interrupted again.
SPORT1: If we look two or three weeks further: do you assume that there will be a quarantine training camp prescribed by the DFL so as not to endanger the end of the season?
Heidel: If a training camp is necessary, we will go with you. We are lucky here in Mainz that we were hardly affected by Corona, so the players are always negative. I am happy every morning when the results of the PCR test come and our doctor writes that they are all negative. We test every player every morning and I think or my hope is that we can do it. But if the DFL decides that we should go to a training camp to protect ourselves, then we also go to a training camp. I don’t hope it comes and we get it that way. But then you just have to face the vote. If the DFL is of the opinion that we will do it that way, then we will go along with it.
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SPORT1: Do you think there will be spectators again this season? UEFA President Ceferin insists on European Championship games with spectators despite the increasing number of infections.
Heidel: It is important that football should not put itself above health. If we, or the experts, are of the opinion that we can host games with at least a few spectators without incurring any major risk, then I would be very happy. But I’ll be the last to say that football should somehow get a special role. We have to do what is good and important for people. It is very difficult to make a forecast now as to whether the last or penultimate matchday will take place with spectators. I would be happy if it happens like that, but we’ve been doing it for so long, we can still manage the last six weeks and look forward to a new season with full stadiums.
“I’m now a Chelsea fan!”
SPORT1: Let’s look outside the box of the Bundesliga. Thomas Tuchel has formed a team from a weakening Chelsea that apparently cannot lose at all. Do you trust Chelsea to win the title?
Heidel: That shows once again what a coach is all about. And I have absolutely no doubt that Thomas is one of the best coaches in the world. I trust him to do everything. With one exception he is now marching through the Premier League and has a great chance of qualifying for the Champions League via the Premier League. But I think he also has a huge chance of qualifying for next year’s Champions League through the Champions League by simply winning it. There are only four teams left and I definitely see Chelsea as one of the teams that can do this. I wouldn’t be happier about anything more than if a Mainz coach won the Champions League. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed for Chelsea that they can make it. Thomas, and there are also many other Mainz residents at Chelsea, everyone who was here with him in Mainz. I’m now a Chelsea fan in the Champions League.
SPORT1: It is quite possible that Chelsea will play against Tuchel’s ex-club PSG in the final …
Heidel: Oh, we’ve seen that quite a few times in football, said Dinger. I think it shows two things: Paris have a great team and Chelsea have a great team with a great coach. I have to say that I also really appreciate the Paris coach Pochettino. But everything is open there. Now they have to see that they even get into the final, it will be difficult enough. But a Paris final against Chelsea, against Thomas, that would be something.
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Heidel: I wanted 60 million for Tuchel
SPORT1: How do you see the development that coaches increasingly have exit clauses in their contracts, which are also drawn? What do you think of the sums that are now being paid for coaches?
Heidel: For one thing, I think it’s absolutely fine because it’s contractually agreed. Both parties thought something. So no criticism of Hütter for doing it, because he is entitled to it. As for the transfer fees: You may remember that we once had a case like this in Mainz when Thomas Tuchel was courted by Schalke and I said it cost 60 million euros. I don’t understand at all when something like this happens, that a coach should be cheaper than a player. I think we are still a long way from the end of the flagpole. If we say today that we are going to sign a player for 7.5 million euros, then that is nothing special. But then suddenly there is a big outcry among coaches. Only if the player costs 7.5 million euros, the coach is the boss of this 7.5 million euros player. So I don’t know why they should be cheaper. I’ve always said that the coach is the most important man on a team, in a club. That’s why I can totally understand that these prices are going up. Bo is not up for debate, I have to be very clear. But if at some point a club calls us and wants to take a coach away from us, I don’t see why the club should pay less than it would for a player. This is nothing special for me and I can totally understand it.
SPORT1: Back then, like all Mainz fans, you had a huge tie when Tuchel said after reaching the European Cup: “Bye, that was it”. Would you agree to a release clause with a coach?
Heidel: That was a completely different case back then. Thomas didn’t move to a club, he simply decided that he wanted to quit now. That’s also the snow from the day before yesterday. I am not a fan of exit clauses. If anything, it must at least be the case that this cannot happen after six months. A club adjusts to the coach, he plans with a coach, he builds the team for this coach and then of course it’s a bit grotesque when he suddenly marches away after three weeks because he has a release clause. But again: It’s a matter between the coach and the host club. If you agree on the way to go, you can’t stand up and complain later. But I haven’t heard that from Frankfurt, for example. Both sides knew what they agreed on, so that’s all right.
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