You can’t go unnoticed to the dressing room where the Hamburger SV players change. The door to this booth is cunningly placed directly behind the interview zone, so there are no escape routes or alternative evasive options. You have to get through it – and HSV coach Tim Walter was one of the first to trudge past on Tuesday. His mood was, well, upgradable. “Hey, calligraphers,” he called out to the annoying journalists before they could ask any annoying questions. That was not meant as a compliment for sentence structure and stylistics.
A little later, Jonas Boldt walked along this path, demonstratively carrying his head erect, which again significantly increased the visibility of the two-meter manager. Boldt never went into hiding, even when he was uncomfortable, and his behavioral record is relatively short. After four years as Hamburg’s sports director, he’s also experienced the way to the dressing room, that’s quite a while in normal professional clubs, but according to HSV standards, that corresponds to the duration of two or three ice ages. During this time, Boldt was happy to praise the development of the team he was responsible for, and even more so the spectators who loyally filled the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. HSV has an average audience of more than 50,000 and thus occupies fifth place, which is well worth seeing. Across the league, of course.
The two or three ice ages in the second division were not enough to shrink the once huge HSV to a small club that only interested a select audience. During his long service, sports director Boldt did not manage to bring the traditional club back to its original milieu – and it has been clear since Monday that this project will last at least another year: HSV remains second-rate after losing promotion relegation against VfB Stuttgart , the results were 0:3 in the first leg and 1:3 in the second leg. The direct class struggle has only been so clear once since its reintroduction in 2009.
“We’ve come a little closer again,” said Boldt about what appeared to be a decent season, in which the Hamburg team scored a remarkable 66 points and even briefly felt like they were promoted before 1. FC Heidenheim was still in the league in the final minutes of the season table passed. The only problem is: close is not good enough. Football remains a sport that only exists in relation to others, that’s the case in individual games and over a whole season.
During the second division season, Darmstadt 98 and Heidenheim were better than HSV, although they have significantly lower economic opportunities. And over the two relegation games, Stuttgart was also so clearly superior because the more expensive quality of the first division team on the pitch simply couldn’t be concealed.
Stuttgart was significantly better than HSV in both relegation games
Interestingly, at HSV a reading has now prevailed that does not exist at other locations: the budget is only discussed when the opponent has a higher one. At least that’s how coach Walter has done it since he joined HSV, and in his stoic immutability he will probably continue to do so. “Of course” the coach will continue next season, said Boldt: “We have built a foundation. The maturing process is not yet complete and the fans are behind us too.” The latter in particular cannot be dismissed out of hand, the HSV supporters created a rousing atmosphere during the relegation games and said goodbye to the team after the defeat with chants and thunderous applause.
That is probably the greatest achievement of Boldt and Walter, they have pacified a club that used to be prone to continuous self-mutilation at every turn. In this way, HSV has developed into a seriously managed company with a culture of trust in which everyone can say anything to one another. You can build on that, of course. With a view to the sporting demands, it’s also like ordering a main course in a restaurant and the waiter then bringing a bowl of nuts, a few aperitifs and delicious antipasti to the table – only the main course doesn’t arrive and you still have to home hungry. The coach Walter, not a man of soft words, promised promotion several times during the season and did nothing indecent: He just formulated again for everyone what was written in his order book as HSV coach.
Walter’s demeanor isn’t exactly hanseatic and reserved, and his playing style doesn’t fall into this category either. An all-in coach, his radical possession football is non-negotiable for him, although there have been interventions behind the scenes during the heated phase of the season with a view to gradual moderation. In principle, such a well-composed idea is a great thing for a club, especially for HSV, which for a decade was mostly completely without a game idea in German professional football. Only: Even a beautiful, supposedly noble football is easy to master if the antidote is on the desks of the coaching colleagues and they know how to use it well. Walter-HSV can run into and overrun its opponents. He cannot play for a staid result.
In the relegation duels with Stuttgart, this was particularly evident in the first leg, when HSV presented such large defensive gaps as is only possible on such an important evening. The second leg, on the other hand, was close, but it was also supported by the strength of the masses in the Volkspark. “You can get scared,” said VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß, who looked as if he had seen ghosts. Despite an extensive urge phase in the first half, HSV was only able to score through a long-range shot by Sonny Kittel. The Stuttgart goal right at the beginning of the second half was “done” by his team, as Hamburg goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes said.
It will now be exciting to see where the “path of development” much propagated in Hamburg will lead. It is to be expected that one or the other player will drop out, such as midfielder Ludovit Reis and striker Robert Glatzel. Both are among the leading figures and are convinced Walterians, but both also have opt-out clauses in their contracts. And how will the influential HSV shareholder Klaus Michael Kühne rate the renewed failure? Experience has shown that the billionaire doesn’t give a damn about utopias that are announced in a big way. Results count for him.
