Oliver Bierhoff’s premature exit came as a surprise to everyone. But apparently the outgoing manager of the national team had lost interest in an honest analysis. Now others have to do that – for the future of a DFB on the ground!
So now he’s gone! Even before the joint crisis summit, which was scheduled for Wednesday morning, Oliver Bierhoff gave up. All those who called for quick action and results in the past few days may agree, but it leaves a stale aftertaste. It seems that Oliver Bierhoff has not been interested in a real reappraisal and in targeted and sustainable changes in the sense of German football for a long time. Too bad. Because in retrospect, one can definitely speak of eight lost years after winning the title at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
In terms of sport, the results were poor to frightening anyway – but above all, German football has reached a dead end. The pictures in the stands at this World Cup speak a clear and sad language. While the rest of the world is enthusiastically celebrating a sporting festival, the German supporters sat and sit sad and disillusioned at home on their couch – and most of them don’t even look anymore. This is also the result of a complete misalignment around “The Crew”.
During the commercial exploitation of the Melkkuh national team, completely wrong accents were negligently set, which inevitably led to the alienation of their own fans. And it was precisely this disunity that had recently taken on catastrophic proportions. In the years after winning the World Cup in 2014, the marketing staging of a team that was unfortunately often soulless, commissioned by Bierhoff and developed by agencies, increasingly revealed the vacuum that had developed within the DFB. As a consequence, all of this has led to the devastating sporting results of the national team in recent years.
With his resignation, Oliver Bierhoff has now taken the first step towards a new start at the DFB. And since time is of the essence, more new personal details will probably have to be presented in the next few days. Unfortunately, one cannot probably count on the fact that the DFB dealt with a poor performance and the resulting consequences before this tournament. And so, in all likelihood, one will have to mentally accept that the same names will always be traded.
Conversely, this unfortunately gives rise to fears that the announced analysis and general accounting will firstly be rather poor and, above all, extremely unsatisfactory because they will not be sustainable. Because what the DFB and the German national team would now urgently need is the consistent separation of the sporting orientation of the senior national team from all the discussions within and around the DFB. Hansi Flick must remain national coach – and from now on pursue the goal of EM 2024 in his own country with a clear view and a well-established axis.
And then you would have to give the DFB a little more time for an honest and open analysis and reappraisal of the last few years. Because it is also clear that the association should not conduct this discussion in its own juice, but with the participation of different experts and specialists from the most diverse areas. From the outside, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the problems within the DFB are much more serious than on the green pitch – and as everyone knows, that’s supposed to mean something.
One can only wish that the leading parties involved do not allow themselves to be tempted by media and public pressure to take hasty decisions over the next few days. In the future, consistent and goal-oriented work without a lot of frills around it must finally be recognizable at the DFB – on and off the pitch. The motto of this new DFB with regard to the quickly approaching EM 2024 could be: “Talk less, do more!” The fans would certainly appreciate this path.