Hertha's search for a managing director: The pressure on Drescher grows
Hertha's search for a managing director has been ongoing for months. The executive board has now brought in a recruitment firm. Will this help the process—or will it delay the decision?
On the hunt for a managing director: Hertha President Fabian Drescher doesn't want to "swim along." IMAGO/Nordphoto
Fabian Drescher tried to sound calm. "We on the executive committee have decided to establish a structured, professional, and future-oriented selection process for the successor," Hertha's president said last Sunday at the second-division club's general meeting in Hall 22b of the Berlin Trade Fair Center regarding the acquisition of the new sporting director. "This includes the involvement of an external recruitment agency. A clear job profile is available. Discussions have already taken place, but a decision has not yet been made. We will not rush into our decision."
In a media round following the general meeting, Drescher clarified when asked: "We have a timeframe that we have set for ourselves. If it goes faster, we are of course happy. But we also have no problem saying that season planning is progressing and will be implemented for now, regardless of the future personnel issues." That he has no problem with that is one thing. The question is whether the candidates for the position of Sporting Director see it that way, or whether they would prefer to be involved in planning a season in which they are expected to steer the ship toward promotion.
Odgers Berndtson was given the mandate when Hertha's selection process was already underwayAccording to kicker information, the eleventh-placed second division team from last season, which is parting ways with managing director Thomas E. Herrich on June 30, is still considering several candidates, one of whom is Arminia Bielefeld's long-time sports director Samir Arabi.
Hertha wants to take its time, but is under pressure to act after the failed talks with Jonas Boldt and Jochen Sauer, and in light of Herrich's resignation. Herrich has vacated his office and was dismissed on the sidelines of the final game of the season against Hannover (1-1 draw) ten days ago. Finance Director Ralf Huschen, poached from league rivals SC Paderborn in the summer of 2024, is currently running the business alone. "A few departments are being added, and the workload is significantly higher," Huschen says of the current situation without Herrich. "I'm looking forward to some relief at some point."
One of the exciting questions in Berlin's Westend district is what added value the recruitment agency hired during the selection process will provide—and why it wasn't on board from the beginning. According to kicker, the firm is Odgers Berndtson, an internationally operating group with offices in Frankfurt am Main and Munich.
In the industry, Hertha is being talked about as a 90-day contract worth €200,000. Money that the club, fighting to retain its license, lacks elsewhere—for example, in roster selection. According to behind-the-scenes reports, the urgently sought-after new center forward is currently budgeted for a maximum transfer fee of €300,000. One thing is clear: Following the departures of Ibrahim Maza (Leverkusen), Derry Scherhant (SC Freiburg), Jonjoe Kenny (new club still undecided), and Florian Niederlechner (1860 Munich), Hertha urgently needs new quality in its squad.
Neuendorf and Herrich were extended when Drescher was acting as acting chairmanArabi was reportedly already on Hertha's executive board's shortlist before the recruitment agency was brought in – which could raise the question of whether the external expertise would have been necessary if he ultimately won the contract. Drescher sounded completely at peace with himself after the general meeting ("It was a well-rounded event: superb organization, good exchange, no disasters"), but a look at the facts makes his record so far anything but rosy.
Hertha had only extended the contract of Andreas "Zecke" Neuendorf, who resigned as Director of the Academy and Professional Players on Easter Sunday, partly due to pressure from the Executive Board, until 2027 last October, and of Herrich, who was also more or less dismissed, until the end of 2026 in March 2024. At that time, Drescher, who was elected President in November of last year, was still serving as acting successor to Kay Bernstein, who died in January 2024.
The big reshuffle at all levels is getting quite expensiveNow Herrich and Neuendorf, who had already been let go by Hertha after leaving his position as assistant coach in November 2021 and was rehired in a new role in January 2023, are gone. And in the academy, once the club's showpiece, Hertha has re-advertised twelve positions this week, including for sporting and administrative management.
When Drescher entered the presidential elections in November as the favorite, he told members in his candidacy speech: "I recently said that we are on a damn good path. We have created new structures at Hertha BSC, especially at the management level, and made extensive personnel decisions and reinforcements."
Half a year later, the major reshuffling is in full swing at almost every level. It's going to be expensive for the club, whose handling of money has been a case in point in recent years – and which could really use every euro for its core business, the professional team and its reinforcements.
