Monday June 29, 2020
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Again the Hamburger SV messed up the promotion to the Bundesliga. The club is threatened with devastating consequences: The future of coach Dieter Hecking is uncertain, the squad will change and part of the revenue will break down. The seasonal conclusion is sobering.
The mood should still be at a low point when the players and coaches of Hamburger SV gather again at 10 am at the Volkspark Stadium. “We will address certain things again and then we will go on vacation,” says coach Dieter Hecking about further planning after the next major bankruptcy. Again, the club fails due to the longed-for promotion to the Bundesliga. What will Hamburger SV look like after this vacation?
Club president and supervisory board chief Marcell Jansen announces: “We will go into the analysis in the coming days.” The result of this analysis is likely to be sobering. It was the second non-promotion in a row that season ended HSV in disappointing fourth place in the table. HSV conceded goals in four of the last nine league games in added time. As a result, a total of six points were lost. Crazy: If all games had been whistled off after 90 minutes, HSV would have had the direct ascent before matchday 34.
The many setbacks have left their mark. “We had to build up the team again and again from the mental state,” explains Hecking. “It works fine once or twice. But if you have to do it in every second game, it takes a lot of strength – especially for the players. Of course you think you have quality. But you can’t put it away easily. ”
“We failed”
The result was a disastrous 1: 5 against SV Sandhausen. The team was obviously not up to the mental pressure, developed no creativity in the game and was also lacking in defense. “We failed as a whole,” said Hecking. Is further cooperation possible under these circumstances?
The trainer’s contract would only have been automatically extended in the event of promotion and has therefore expired. Hecking has repeatedly signaled his willingness to stay with HSV in the second division. However, he also knows: “You have to see to what extent we can set up the big whole structure again so that everyone has the feeling that it can work next year.”
Jansen believes that further cooperation is possible and said at Sky: “Jonas Boldt (sports director, editor’s note) and Dieter Hecking have already commented on this. Jonas Boldt’s trust is there. Dieter Hecking has so much experience.” But what would the team look like with which the promotion should succeed in the third attempt?
Income is falling
Hamburger SV went into the previous season with a gaming budget of around 28 million euros. Only VfB Stuttgart had an even higher budget available with an estimated 40 million euros – with success: The Swabians will soon play in the upper house again. Unlike the HSV, where every year in the 2nd Bundesliga the income drops – especially the television revenue. CFO Frank Wettstein told the NDR: “Of course we won’t be able to have the most expensive squad in the umpteenth year of the second division, but we will definitely still be able to present a good squad that can compete for the top spots – and that probably in the fifth, eighth or twelfth year of the second division. “
Another problem: the naming rights at the arena of Hamburger SV expire on June 30th. According to the “Bild” newspaper, investor and shareholder Klaus-Michael Kühne transfers four million euros to HSV every year so that the arena retains the traditional name of the Volksparkstadion. A possible contract extension is still pending. The messed up climb shouldn’t help. Added to this is the general uncertainty as to when the clubs can again expect audience revenue in times of Corona.
Several players leave Hamburg
In such times, it shouldn’t be easy for Boldt to put together a team ready for promotion for the coming season. “We will see where we can strengthen our team and will try to get the best possible players for HSV,” he announced.
So far, it only seems certain that the loan players will return to their actual clubs. Defenders Jordan Beyer (Borussia Mönchengladbach), midfielders Adrian Fein (FC Bayern Munich) and Louis Schaub (1. FC Cologne) as well as attackers Martin Harnik (Werder Bremen) and Joel Pohjanpalo (Bayer Leverkusen) are meant. The departure from Pohjanpalo in particular weighs heavily. With nine goals, he was the guarantor of the second half of the season. And Fein was also a key player in defensive midfield, at least in the first half of the season.
Boldt has to get a replacement and also strengthen the last weak defense (16 goals in the past seven games). Especially since central defender Rick van Drongelen contracted a cruciate ligament in the last game of the season and should be missing for at least six months. Ultimately, HSV would also need new leading players to support the team in difficult phases.
The only firm new signing so far is the 18-year-old midfielder Amadou Onana from the A-youth team of TSG Hoffenheim. In addition, there are currently five return players: striker Manuel Wintzheimer (VfL Bochum), midfielder Berkay Özcan (Istanbul Basaksehir), left winger Aaron Opoku (Hansa Rostock) and the two central defenders David Bates (Sheffield Wednesday) and Jonas David (Würzburger Kickers) ). Only Opoku and Wintzheimer have developed well during their loan – but with clubs with lower demands or like Opoku a league lower.
Trainer, team, finances – there is a risk of total damage. The club management of Hamburger SV has to make many groundbreaking decisions if the mood after the coming season should be better than at 10 a.m. at the Volksparkstadion.
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