Dieter Hecking chose the time for his change a little smarter this time. It is the middle of the year, summer vacations are just beginning in Bavaria, a metal avalanche that was never thought possible is rolling from the north to the south of the republic on the highways. Which also has to do with the fact that the lack of hygienically reliable flight connections is the only remaining means of transportation with which everyone with their family and their viruses can keep to themselves. Dieter Hecking has been on Lake Garda in the past few days. So he didn’t roll from HSV from the north to 1. FC Nürnberg, he saw the tin avalanche on the other track. And unlike his fleeing farewell to the club in winter 2012/13, when he returned he made a wide detour: around Christmas and other holidays. This time no one should come up with the idea of calling Hecking a Christmas present. Or as an egg from the Easter bunny.
The story lingered for a while at the club: How he used an exit clause in his contract shortly before Christmas 2012 to roll north to VfL Wolfsburg. And so he left the poor club with the inexperienced top coach Michael Wiesinger and Armin Reutershahn in the training camp in Marbella. “In any case, I didn’t have a bow when I arrived here,” Hecking justified days later in Wolfsburg, when he started as VfL coach in the face of the Christmas tree.
Forget everything. Seven and a half years later, Hecking can go back to the club at Valznerweiher. It is now one league lower than at Hecking’s farewell. But Hecking is now a league higher: He is no longer a trainer like back then, but, as SZ learned, is converted into a sports director. It is clear that Hecking should be placed under a sports director for relief. Whether it’s like that image reports about Martin Przondziono is unclear. The 51-year-old was the managing director of SC Paderborn before the club separated from him due to “different views on sporting development”.
There may also have been different opinions about the season finish of Hecking’s former employer, the Hamburg sports club. On the last matchday, the HSV coached by Hecking would only have had to play a draw against Sandhausen to achieve the promotion to the Bundesliga. Instead, he lost 1: 5. One can say: Hecking missed the ascent with a pinch. But not quite as sharply as 1. FC Nürnberg escaped relegation to the 3rd league: only after a goal in injury time of the relegation second leg. So there is a fruitful exchange of experiences about sporting borderline experiences between the new sports director and the team.
For them, Hecking has to present a new trainer as soon as possible. In the end, this was the express wish of the supervisory board. He has to find a successor for Jens Keller, who had to do the same after the disaster season as sports director Robert Palikuca. In the playoffs, the team was no longer coached by Keller, but by Michael Wiesinger, whom Hecking once threw into the warm pool water in Marbella when he moved to Wolfsburg.
It is said about Wiesinger that he wants to manage the youth performance center as before the relegation.
Hecking was allowed to sign a three-year contract
The deal with Hecking emerged on Friday after Benjamin Schmedes had canceled as the second candidate. The sports director of VfL Osnabrück confirmed that he “is currently not available under the current circumstances”. Whether he meant the prospect of a job as a sports director under Hecking with the circumstances remained open. The fact that Schmedes, who also had supporters on the club’s supervisory board, has now canceled on his own initiative ensures that everyone involved can save face: Schmedes – and the Schmedes supporters.
The supervisory board met on Thursday evening, and Hecking presented his sporting concept for the first time. Apparently this was so exciting that Hecking was able to sign a three-year contract on Friday.
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