Campy drama is a trademark of soap operas, but if teams could turn into daytime TV, Bundesliga outfit Hamburger SV would make an ideal candidate.
A week after ousting manager Thorsten Fink following the humiliating 6-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, HSV are still waiting to win their second game of the season.
The frustration was also visible among players following the Nordderby loss to Werder Bremen on Saturday, with Heiko Westermann’s critique sounding more like precautionary alarm bells.
“No one here wants to hear it, but it’s now about relegation. It’s now about the existence of the club,” the Hamburg defender warned.
In six games, Hamburg has suffered four losses and currently sits in 16th place. Their only victory came against newly promoted and last place Eintracht Braunschweig. In total they’ve conceded a league-high 17 goals.
Overall, Fink was a decent coach whose poor start to the season cost him his job. It was clear that he reached a point where he could no longer turn his team around. He took charge in October 2011 and helped the Red Shorts to a 15th place finish, doing just enough to avoid relegation. But the team was always marred with inconsistency.
Fink’s style was relatively hard to describe. He used different approaches. He experimented often with formations and tactics. One game he employed a questionable three-man defence and the next he’d resort back to his usual 4-2-3-1. Still, at other times, he’d stray from his favoured formation and use a midfield diamond instead.
Last season under his charge, Hamburg sported a 14-6-14 record and finished a respectable seventh in the table, but an embarrassing 9-2 loss to Bayern Munich is what everyone remembers. Already this season the team suffered to heavy defeats. The 5-1 loss against Hoffenheim took a brutal turn in the last 45 minutes after entering the break tied. Against Borussia Dortmund they trailed by a goal, but let in four more in the second half, three coming within the span of eight minutes.
But the circus doesn’t end on the field. Hamburg is a complex club and there’s always drama at every level. It’s not unheard of for local media to report on leaks and it’s widely reported that there is plenty of unrest and disagreement within the board of directors.
An extension of that pressure is also external. Klaus-Michael Kuehne, who was the investor that helped bring Rafael van der Vaart to Hamburg, recently criticized Fink’s inability to lead and motivate the team. He also didn’t hold back on sporting director Oliver Kreuze, who he called a “third division manager.”
Kuehne is a strong believer in the Thomas Hobbes Leviathan type of ruler. If he had his way, he’d have brought in iron-fisted manager Felix Magath.
“Magath proved that he can lead a club back to the top. He is a human that can take drastic measures. And by HSV one must take drastic measures. He has the personality that can bring the needed authority,” Kuehne said.
To some Kuehne is only exercising his rights as an investor. But to others the comments were seen as undermining Fink’s authority and only adding to the unrest.
In all fairness, even prior to Kuehne’s comments there was the Mallorca scandal. After the dismal loss to Hoffenheim, Fink decided to give his players two extra off days. The purpose of the break was for each player to reflect on the loss and ponder on how to make the team better. Rather than reflecting, Dennis Aogo (now on loan at Schalke 04) and Tomas Rincon decided to fly to Mallorca. Both players were eventually punished and suspended for their actions.
Meet the new boss
Bert van Marwijk was hired as the team’s new coach on Tuesday, and it’ll be up to the Dutchman to turn things around.
It’s clear the pressure at Hamburg is immense. Fink himself claimed that he never had a quiet month in his entire career with the club. When Van der Vaart was once asked by a reporter if there will ever be calmness at the club, he answered: “Here quiet and peace will never come.”
More changes could come in 2014. The recently introduced HSV-Plus initiative will bring about structural changes to the club as well as create stronger financial partnerships. One goal is to reduce the debt without having to bring in a sheik or Russian oil tycoon while adhering to the Bundesliga’s “50+1” rule.
The proposal is supported by former players Thomas von Heesen, Holger Hieronymus and Ditmar Jakobs (all members of Hamburg’s wining side of the 1980s) as well as the club’s former head of board of directors. But a majority vote is needed in order for the initiative to pass. Voting will take place in January 2014.
This could set the ball in motion for a long overdue reform process, but whether it will eliminate all the drama surrounding Hamburg remains to be seen.
Those who spent enough time at the club have their doubts. Defender Marcell Jansen believes even if the team was to start winning it wouldn’t flush out the unrest. He openly told reporters that in his six years at HSV there has never been a time of peace and quiet even when the team was doing well.
“I believe there are deep lying problems that always take hold again, both when we are successful and unsuccessful. Everything cooks to the top. We should really think about that,” Jansen said.
Alima Hotakie is a Toronto-based writer. Follow her on Twitter.