Status: 2:38 p.m
Gladbach comments on the future of sports director Eberl
He has been with the club for 23 years and Max Eberl has been sporting director of Borussia Mönchengladbach for 13 years. Now he is leaving the club. Follow the highly emotional press conference on Eberl’s future live here.
Max Eberl announces his retirement from Borussia Mönchengladbach after 13 years. There are special scenes at the press conference. The 48-year-old cries: “I just want to get out. I don’t want anything to do with this football anymore. I want to be Max Eberl.”
Max Eberl resigns after 13 years as sporting director of Borussia Mönchengladbach with immediate effect. The 48-year-old announced his decision in a very emotional press conference. Even before Eberl uttered the first words, he was crying.
Eberl struggled for composure and then began: “I’m exhausted, tired and have no strength left.” This is the sole reason why he is resigning. “It’s by far the hardest PK I’ve had to hold in my career. I’m a good example of what’s happening in the world right now,” said Eberl: “We talked for a long time. What has been speculated for the past 24 hours makes me sick. I’m broken, exhausted and therefore can’t work anymore. That’s why I spoke to the club about ending my 23 years here.”
Eberl continues: “I’m ending what my life was. I’m finishing something that has given me a lot of joy and fun. Football is my life. The club gave me everything to continue. But I have to draw a line. I have to go out and take care of myself and my health. I left everything I had on the pitch. I took care of this club like a child. But now I have no more strength.”
“I just want to be Max Eberl.”
Again Eberl had to be interrupted. In a voice choked with tears, he again tried to justify his decision: “I just want out. I don’t want anything to do with this football anymore. i want to see the world I just want to be Max Eberl. For the first time in my life I think of myself. I am very sad because I have to leave behind a lot of people I have come to love.”
“It’s hard to admit that you’re not strong anymore. You can’t buy experience, you have to make it,” said Eberl. There isn’t one decisive point for his decision: “If at some point you look in the mirror and think that you can’t give the job what it deserves, then I’ve become more aware of my decision. This is also Max Eberl, who goes his own way. I’m not afraid to sit here now either. Hopefully I will now have many beautiful moments and also moments of boredom. I do it like Hape Kerkeling and then just go away.”
Eberl praised the partnership and the trust that those responsible had in him: “I think that this is not a bad time for the club to break new ground. There will be a very good successor, I’m sure of that.”
