The players of Hannover 96 carry the coffin with the deceased national goalkeeper Robert Enke
Source: pa/dpa/Marcus Brandt
Jörg Schmadtke will end his Bundesliga career at the end of the month. The most difficult time for the Hanover manager at the time was the death of Robert Enke. From today’s perspective, he would do things differently.
Nfter 38 years as a goalkeeper, assistant coach and manager in German professional football, Jörg Schmadtke will end his career on January 31st. In an interview with the “Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung”, the sports director of VfL Wolfsburg described the suicide of national goalkeeper Robert Enke in November 2009 as the “biggest blow to the neck” of this long career.
“It was a really hard blow. But in this situation I had to function, think how to find the best solution for this situation. From today’s perspective, many things might be done differently…” said the 58-year-old, who at the time was still sports director of the Enke-Club Hannover 96. “The fact that the players carry out the coffin” is an example. “But when you’re in charge and you have to make the decisions, you don’t know what the impact will be.”
Enke’s death sharpened his sense of depression, explained Schmadtke. “But I think that this bad story could not have been prevented, unfortunately.”
“There’s a lot of Phariseeism in there”
In return, “the level of care is now better. The openness to talk about mental illnesses has increased,” said the experienced football manager. “But the pressure to perform, which was also created by some media, has remained the same, nothing has changed there. And those who propagated it the most flew over the stadium in a lightweight aircraft when Robert Enke’s coffin was laid out in the stadium. There is a lot of Pharisaism there.”
The time after Enke’s death also shaped his relationship with Hanover’s professional football boss Martin Kind, said Schmadtke. “Together we tried to overcome this terrible event. We had and have a good relationship. I like him,” said Schmadtke about the child. “I really appreciated the discussions with him. There was no messing around with him. He is very reliable.”
