Vfl wolfsburg seems to be well on the way to beating hamburger SV as the laughing stock of the fubball bundesliga.
Before saturday's direct duel between the two clubs that are acutely threatened with relegation but have never been relegated from the fubball bundesliga, calm has returned to the HSV despite the precarious sporting situation. At the same time, the chaos at vfl is becoming more and more grotesque before the game, which is so important for both teams.
The "wolfsburger allgemeine zeitung" attested that the vfl's "search for a manager is proceeding at a similar level to the sporting performances of the professionals" – in other words, indisputable. Last matchday, ex-HSV coach bruno labbadia's team delivered a sporting revelation in a 3-0 loss at monchengladbach. Where other clubs try to remain calm, this week the VW club made sure that the uncertainty of the players was increased even more with the botched transfer of sport director horst heldt from hannover 96 to the vfl.
The unrest was exacerbated by the imminent departure of manager olaf rebbe, who failed for the second year in a row to bring the club, which is lavishly funded by VW, closer to the european cup places. Rebbe, who is still in office but has been badly damaged by the public flirtation with heldt, is already seeking legal advice, according to unanimous media reports. According to the report, he has since been told that the 39-year-old no longer has a future in wolfsburg.
Rebbe did not want to comment on this. Earlier, he had already complained about his working environment and indiscretions. "I say, the vfl wolfsburg is deliberately harmed, and that certainly does not help in the current situation," he had told the NDR.
As proof, the vfl's talks with heldt were made public. On thursday, the chairman of the supervisory board, vw board member frank witter, was not prepared to pay the compensation demanded by 96 boss martin kind for heldt. According to reports, kind has demanded around five million euros. Kind was not the only one irritated by wolfsburg's approach: "in a phase in which both clubs are playing to stay in the league, you don't cause unrest. You don't do that."
For years, it was the bundesliga founding member HSV that always cut a pitiful figure in the fight against relegation, but in the end somehow stayed in – until now. If the hamburgers lose in wolfsburg, the first relegation in the club's history could be determined on sunday. If they win, however, they are then with two outstanding games on two points to the vfl on.
Despite the importance of the game, there is a remarkable calm at HSV. At the same time, the hamburgers also still have some personnel questions to answer. This is how the traditional club has been looking for a sports director since the separation from jens todt in march. Leverkusen jonas boldt has already been removed from the hanseatic team's list of candidates. Also rouven schroder denied talk with supervisory board chairman bernd hoffmann about a possible move from mainz 05 to the elbe.
Unlike the vfl, HSV is currently looking purely at the sporting side of things and is grateful that it has managed to get a chance to stay in the league at all. "Those ahead of us have more to lose," said coach christian titz, referring to freiburg, wolfsburg and mainz, who all have five points more on their account.
In wolfsburg, it took some pithy words from offensive player daniel didavi to remind them of the extremely important match. "With a win, we can push HSV into the 2. We can't get any more motivated than that," said didavi. Titz's counter: "it is advisable to play fubball with the fub and not with the mouth"."