Hertha roll out new administrative team: "Full steam ahead!"
Less than 24 hours after the shock sacking of Sporting CEO Fredi Bobic, relegation-threatened Hertha BSC officially introduced their new administrative team.
Benjamin Weber, the club's former youth academy boss, is Hertha's new sporting director. Weber must hit the ground running in order to procure attacking reinforcements before the transfer window closes.
VfL Wolfsburg's Maximilian Philipp is being linked with a move back to his hometown.
As reported upon by German press sources earlier in the day, Andreas "Zecke" Neuendorf and Benjamin Weber are the new administrative figures charged with saving Hertha BSC from relegation. One day after the shock sacking of chief personnel executive Fredi Bobic, Hertha President Kay Bernstein introduced the new duo. Weber will function as the club's sporting director. Neuendorf receives a licensing director appointment in order to "serve as a link between the academy and licensed pros".
Benjamin Weber, the club's former youth academy boss, is Hertha's new sporting director. Weber must hit the ground running in order to procure attacking reinforcements before the transfer window closes.
VfL Wolfsburg's Maximilian Philipp is being linked with a move back to his hometown.
"Most of you surely expected [former Hannover and Köln manager] Horst Heldt [former Köln and Augsburg manager] Andreas Rettig to be sitting here," Bernstein joked when addressing assembled members of the German press, "but we are convinced we're on the right track. Our decision [to part company with Bobic] wasn't arrived at overnight."
Weber returns to the club after parting company with the Bobic regime by mutual consent 11 months. Weber worked his way up through the club's managerial system over the course of 18 years, eventually rising to the sporting director post at the youth academy. The 42-year-old was one of many club bosses removed by Bobic during a fairly thorough purge of the administrative ranks.
"I didn't think I'd come back to my club so quickly," Weber said at the roll out, "But now I'm eager to get going. I'm a Berliner, I'm a Herthaner through and through. I'll be working on a time crunch from the start, but will accept the challenge."
Bernstein confirmed that the decision to dismiss Bobic was related to the former executive's declaration that he wouldn't purchase any more players during the current transfer window. Bernstein then declared that Weber would be charged, under the alluded to "strict time crunch", with obtaining a couple of more reinforcements.
Hertha have retained the services of squad planner Dirk Dufner, with whom Weber already confirmed that he had shared a conversation. Weber also said he had spoken with head-coach Sandro Schwarz, whom Bernstein insisted "has our full support."
At present, the only player linked with Hertha is VfL Wolfsburg anchoring/attacking midfielder Maximilian Philipp. The Wolves have been looking to offload the expendable attacker for some time. The report linking Philipp to the largest club in his hometown originated in the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung.
"It's full-steam ahead now," Weber remarked at the press conference.