Home » News » Dieter Hecking on the crisis in Gladbach, problems at FC Bayern and the development of the Bundesliga

Dieter Hecking on the crisis in Gladbach, problems at FC Bayern and the development of the Bundesliga


SPORTBUZZER: Mr. Hecking, your former clubs, the cup opponents Hannover 96 and Borussia Mönchengladbach, as well as VfL Wolfsburg are in crisis. Do you suffer with them, or is there no place for such sentimentality in professional football?

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Dieter Hecking (57): Regardless of where I once played or worked, I still see what these clubs are doing today. You often know the protagonists relatively well, and I try to find out for myself why things aren’t going that way here or there.



Borussia Mönchengladbach in particular surprised negatively.

Borussia has stood for very successful football over the past decade. But very few clubs are so stable that they can’t get into trouble once in a while. During this period, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and maybe Bayer 04 Leverkusen were the only clubs that lived up to the claim of wanting to play regularly in Europe. Leipzig is shaky this season, and Gladbach, Leverkusen, Frankfurt and so on are finding that the top six table isn’t set in stone. This is where Freiburg and Union Berlin suddenly appear and do outstanding work.



threatens the Bundesliga to lose touch?

The results in European competitions show that our top teams have to be careful not to fall further behind. Keeping up or even closing the gap is becoming increasingly difficult given the balance of power in European football. Thanks to the financial strength of investors, England and now also Italy are rushing further and further, so that even Bayern Munich have problems signing top stars.



HSV, Werder, Schalke, Fortuna, 96, your FCN – big names fighting for survival in the second division. Is the air getting thinner for traditional clubs?

The 2nd division is suffering even more from the pandemic than the Bundesliga. I am convinced that without a pandemic, the enthusiasm and media attention for this second division with all the perceived first division teams would be enormous because of the balance. Schalke, Hamburg or Bremen are not at the top, but St. Pauli and Darmstadt. And also Heidenheim, Regensburg, Paderborn and we are involved at the top. That makes this league incredibly exciting.



How do you see the development at 1. FC Nürnberg?

We are satisfied with the first 18 matchdays. Now it’s up to us to confirm that. Our vision is to bring the “club” back into the Bundesliga in the medium term. And so far this season everything has worked out very well. We made good transfers, the mood at the club is good and the trust in the club’s management, which had suffered a bit in recent years, is back. All of this is still fragile, however, and we should not be lightly jeopardizing what we have achieved so far.



Was it disappointments, like in Mönchengladbach, where you had to leave despite success, that made you prefer the manager’s chair to the coaching bench?

I don’t want to beat around the bush: I was really disappointed in Gladbach. At that time we were on the way to reaching the Champions League, and even if it was “only” the Europa League in the end, it was still a great success for Borussia. However, I made the decision to work as a board member because after 20 years I noticed that the tingling you need to be successful as a coach was no longer there.



How would today’s sports director Dieter Hecking get along with the former coach?

Good. No. Very well! (laughs)

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Is there a scenario where you can imagine returning to the sidelines?

I’m not one to say categorically “I’ll never do that again”. My contract has another year and a half left and I can’t say today what will happen then. I enjoy the here and now, and I feel very comfortable with that.

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