VfB chairman Thomas Hitzlsperger on…
… the issues, tasks and objectives after 100 days as chairman:
“For all the off-field things that have been present in my past three months as chairman and gained importance for me in this position, I still feel that our first team is the all-important topic. Although I deal with a lot of things outside football, it’s clear that a lot rests on our objective of promotion. At the moment we’re only in Bundesliga 2 and the day-to-day business has priority. On the board, of course, we also have a duty to think and plan three to five years ahead. We don’t want to advise these plans publicly, but rather to adopt a cautious approach. That doesn’t mean, however, that we’re not pursuing ambitious goals.”
… structural and personnel decisions:
“The first 100 days as chairman have gone very quickly. The big turnover in the squad in the summer was absolutely necessary, in our opinion. We wanted to change the age structure and bring in younger players with a lot of potential, who can help us to achieve both our short-term and our medium- and long-term goals. Continuity was and still is our wish, but it’s not an end in itself. Ultimately, success on the pitch – meaning promotion – always comes before the desire for continuity.”
… infrastructure projects:
“We want to press ahead with major infrastructure projects. The renovation of the Mercedes-Benz Arena and a new club centre are two major projects which drive me and which I want to put my commitment and energy into.”
… youth development and the transition into the first team:
“We want to be successful and to do so, we want to bring through more youth talent. That doesn’t happen overnight, though. It’s a long-term objective. After a year on the board, I can offer a positive summary. Homegrown talent should be a central component of the first team in the long run. We need to keep improving our youth development and create opportunities for a handful of youth players to be with the first team, as was the case recently at the training camp. The fact we’re signing young players from other clubs does not mean we’re not relying on our own youngsters.”
… his cooperation with the new president and the search for investors:
“I’m very pleased with how we’ve tackled the first few weeks together with Claus Vogt in his new role as president. The search for investors is a central topic that is very high on the agenda, and there have already been discussions on how we want to pursue this further. The fact is that in Daimler AG we have a top anchor investor who has laid the financial foundation with its commitment and is supporting us in many other areas.”
… Pellegrino Matarazzo’s first few weeks as head coach:
“On both a professional and personal level, ‘Rino’ has our full confidence and backing. Our objective is promotion, which we’re tackling together. We’re going into the second half of the season with optimism and want to put into practice the things we worked on at the training camp. We’ll see in the opening home game next Wednesday how far we are. Heidenheim are a very solid, stable team and will ask a lot of us.”