Jürgen Klinsmann Quits as Hertha Berlin Coach

“This season we want to avoid relegation,” Klinsmann said then. “Next season we want to be in the upper half of the table, with the goal of making the Europa league. And then, who knows.”

A couple of hours after Klinsmann resigned, the club confirmed that one of his assistants, Alexander Nouri, would take over in the short term. It was clear Klinsmann’s resignation had come as a surprise to the club, its fans and its investors.

“I deeply regret the decision made by Jürgen Klinsmann,” Lars Windhorst, a German businessman who made a major investment in the team last summer, wrote to The Times. Windhorst was credited with helping to bring Klinsmann aboard and supplying him with the funds to restructure the lagging team. Windhorst made an initial investment of $244 million and an implicit promise of more to come.

Although it has remained in the Bundesliga since 2013, Hertha, nicknamed the Old Lady, has long fought a reputation as a stale underachiever, especially for a capital city of its size.

“The city has become a global brand,” Windhorst said. “And one would expect such a city to have a soccer club that is leading in Europe or at least Germany.”

But Hertha Berlin has been far from that. Its home games, in drafty Olympic Stadium in Berlin, reach capacity only when more prominent teams visit, as was the case on Jan. 19 when Bayern Munich was in town (and beat Hertha handily, 4-0).

“In some parts of the city you can find more Dortmund Borussia pubs than Hertha fans,” said Lucas Vogelsang, a Hertha fan and host of the popular podcast Fussball MML.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/sports/jurgen-klinsmann-quits-as-hertha-berlin-coach.html?emc=rss&partner=rss