It was already clear on Saturday evening what would happen at Hertha on Sunday. At the latest, when Hertha’s manager Fredi Bobic, 50, stood with the former legend Lothar Matthäus, 60, in the mobile studio of the TV channel Sky and said that those responsible for Hertha “will first discuss it calmly” and added: “We will definitely comment on that tomorrow (Sunday).” Korkut, 47, must have known for a long time after the 2-0 loss at Borussia Mönchengladbach that it would be tight for him. And on Sunday, shortly after 11 a.m., it was over for him in Berlin. “After an intensive analysis and evaluation of the current sporting situation, the management of Hertha BSC has decided to release Tayfun Korkut from his position as head coach of the licensed team with immediate effect,” the club announced.
Farewell to Korkut was obviously difficult for Fredi Bobic. Among other things, because it has to be read like the correction of a mistake that Bobic was reminded of in a downright sadistic way – by Lothar Matthäus.
On Saturday evening, the 1990 world champion suggested entrusting the thoroughbred Hertha Pal Dardai, 45, with the rescue. What you have to know is that Lothar Matthäus is not only a Sky expert, but also feels connected to Dardai. Connected enough to know how things are going with relations between former Hertha playmates Bobic and Dardai since Bobic fired the Hungarian at the end of November – to bring Korkut.
Niko Kovac, Friedhelm Funkel, Markus Gisdol – the list of names that is now being speculated on is long
There was a “promising start with seven points from the first four games,” Bobic said in writing. Now they have “openly and clearly analyzed the development of the performance and results of the nine games in the second half of the season” and have “come to the decision to make another change in the coaching position”. Hertha’s point average under Korkut had previously dropped to 0.67 per game. After the 2-0 defeat on Saturday, the club is penultimate from the bottom of the table and only has eight games left to avoid being relegated for the sixth time in their Bundesliga history. With which coach? That was initially open on Sunday.
They wanted to get in touch after the personal details had been clarified, said Hertha, who still has firefighters like Labbadia and Dardai on the payroll. Who will be next? Luminaries like Niko Kovac (without a club) or Roger Schmidt (PSV Eindhoven), who were recently considered dream coaches, should move to England rather than Berlin. Kovac, a boy from Wedding, could still be emotionally tickled. Otherwise there is speculation about various names. The list ranged from Friedhelm Funkel to Markus Gisdol, who recently left Lokomotiv Moscow of his own accord. Ex-Stuttgarter Slaven Bilić is said to have been contacted through an intermediary and, for reasons of principle – no major interest in the Bundesliga – waved him off.
In any case, the team went to regenerative training around 11 a.m. without a boss, which was over after half an hour. With the defenders Dedryck Boyata and Marton Dardai – son of Pal Dardai – who, shortly after the 1-0 lead for Gladbach on the substitute bench, laughed a similarly large branch as the chancellor candidate at the time, Armin Laschet, after the flood disaster in the Ahr valley.
Dardai Jr. laughed almost on behalf of the dad, who, according to rumors, has been smiling for a long time that the irony at Hertha bites heartily. Dardai was complimented in the summer of 2019 because his football was not considered attractive enough (it wasn’t). Then he came back in winter 2021 because his successors Ante Covic, Jürgen Klinsmann, Alexander Nouri and Bruno Labbadia couldn’t get Hertha off the ground; At the end of November, Bobic put him on leave again.
The irony: at the end of Korkut’s term of office of all things, Dardaism happily celebrated its birth. Korkut snubbed his side in front of cameras on Tuesday, which is not his style. Then – contrary to his own nature and in the spirit of Dardaism – he fielded eight defensive players. Up front, Korkut relied on Davie Selke – a decision brimming with agnosticism. Because: The answer to the question of whether Selke is a Bundesliga-capable striker can only be answered in the same way as agnostics answer the question of the existence of God: It has not been clarified. Although there is no need to worry about Selke: Hertha is anything but lonely about him on this issue.
Also striking: There was only one player signed by Bobic in the starting XI. Namely Marc-Oliver Kempf, who came at the end of January from VfB Stuttgart, who was also in danger of relegation and caused two penalties against Hertha in four games for Hertha, and also saw the red card against Leipzig. In the eyes of many Hertha fans, he is therefore under the – of course outrageous – suspicion of being a member of the fifth column of VfB Stuttgart, which is also in danger of relegation.
“We would prefer to swap completely different things,” moans manager Bobic about the squad
On Saturday it was Kempf’s foul on Gladbach striker Marcus Thuram that prompted Alassane Pléa’s penalty to make it 1-0 for Gladbach. In the second half, Hertha conceded the 2-0 after a corner (59th minute). Manager Bobic made it clear that Niklas Stark had forgotten to be responsible for later goalscorer Matthias Ginter. But Selke’s passivity when Ginter climbed up next to him to head the ball was incredible and certainly not the fault of coach Korkut. Apparently Bobic also has something like that. “We would prefer to swap completely different things,” moaned the manager on ZDF, which is nothing more than a vote of no confidence in large parts of a dysfunctional squad. “I can tell you, Tayfun Korkut hits everything,” said Bobic. Selke also thought that Korkut’s plan was good. “We managed to do it over long stretches, not over long stretches either,” said Selke. The stretches they didn’t make it over were the longer ones overall.
And now? From the summer of 2019, Hertha was given 374 million euros by investor Lars Windhorst; In the light of the transfers made, one would wish that Hertha had raised George Best’s famous bon mot to a business plan. In other words: spend the money on alcohol, women and fast cars and squander the rest. Hertha on the other hand? Is no longer in front of shards, but in front of an existential crisis; which nonetheless does not prevent President Werner Gegenbauer, as far as the public is concerned, from going further than missing is applicable. Whereby: He was seen on Saturday in the honorary stand in Gladbach and on Sunday morning in the parking lot in front of the office.
