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Peter Herrmann: “Many understand football – but he understands the players”

SChalke 04, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund – several clubs reacted immediately and expressed their regret at a message that caused dismay in the Bundesliga: Peter Hermann, 70, the long-standing and by far the best-known assistant coach of German football, will end his career. “Peter has asked us for his release for health reasons. It goes without saying that we complied with his request,” said Borussia Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl. BVB will probably be the last station of a coach who has never been in the limelight, but who has shaped football with his style and competence.

A high level of professional expertise and the same level of integrity of character – it is these two components that have made Hermann such an extraordinary figure. In more than thirty years he has played 15 times in the first, second and third leagues as well as with the DFB. And nowhere did Hermann say goodbye without being acknowledged with sincere regret.

“Peter is untouchable as a person and has an incredible amount of expertise,” says Friedhelm Funkel to WELT. “He’s crazy about football so both the many head coaches he’s worked with and the players got along great with him. He was someone who took a lot of time for each player, who also worked with them individually long after training was over,” says Funkel, who is concerned about the news of Hermann’s health problems. “I hope he’ll be fine soon and I wish him all the best,” said the Bundesliga coach, who worked with Hermann at Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Heynckes really wanted Hermann

“Unfortunately, it was only a year and a half,” says Funkel. Because in October 2017, the people of Düsseldorf had no chance of keeping Hermann. At that time, Jupp Heynckes had just agreed to become Bayern Munich’s head coach for the third time. Heynckes, who had actually already retired, had one condition: he absolutely wanted Peter Hermann as his assistant. “Jupp wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t gotten Peter,” said Funkel. In fact, Bayern agreed to transfer a fee of two million euros to Düsseldorf – for an assistant coach. A unique event in the history of the Bundesliga.

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The 70-year-old was one of Jupp Heynckes’ most important confidants (l.)

Source: pa/press photo Rudel/Robin Rudel

At that time, word of Hermann’s special style had long spread in the industry. The coach, who was born in Kleinmaischeid in Rhineland-Palatinate and played 120 Bundesliga games for Hamburger SV and Bayer Leverkusen as a midfielder between 1973 and 1984, was extremely loyal to many men. In 1989 he became Jürgen Gelsdorf’s assistant coach in Leverkusen, after which he assisted Dragoslav Stepanovic, Erich Ribbeck, Christoph Daum, Berti Vogts, Klaus Toppmöller, Klaus Augenthaler and Michael Skibbe.

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Then he went to 1. FC Nürnberg to stand by Michael Oenning. But just a year later, the Leverkusen team wanted him back – as assistant to the new head coach Jupp Heynckes. When he went to Munich two years later, Hermann followed him. It was the most successful period of his career: In the 2012/13 season, Bayern became champions, Champions League winners and won the DFB Cup.

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“Peter was someone who was very important to a head coach’s authority,” says Funkel. If there were disputes in the dressing room or a player got angry – Hermann was often the one who defuse the situation or could put a player in the laces. “For him it made no difference whether the player’s name was Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben or Mats Hummels – or whether it was a young player. He didn’t pay any attention to names,” said Funkel.

Double action on Schalke

Hermann thus became a key support for the head coaches – especially when they were young or inexperienced coaches, with whom players sometimes see how far they can go. Schalke secured Hermann’s services twice: He was brought in for the 2013/14 season to support Jens Keller. When the Royal Blues threatened to weaken on the home straight in the second Bundesliga last March, Hermann became Mike Büskens’ assistant.

“I think his influence on our rise has been somewhat neglected in retrospect. Peter was exactly the piece of the jigsaw that we were missing,” says Schalke’s sporting director Peter Knäbel, who had previously brought Hermann to Hamburger SV. Hermann played a key role in getting everything out of the players. “Many people think they understand football, but Peter understands the players,” Knäbel told WELT.

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Hermann (left) celebrated promotion to the Bundesliga with Schalke 04

Source: pa/dpa/Daniel Karmann

Peter Hermann was never concerned with how he stood there. He never aspired to become a head coach himself. He was always suspicious of the limelight. “He’s definitely a communicative person, but giving interviews or holding press conferences every week – that was never his thing,” says Funkel. For Peter Hermann it was always about football and the players, never about himself.

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