By Richard Plumb

Hamburg stands at the crossroads, not just in who will be the coach or the manager, but the structure the club should take, the path the club should follow., the ability to raise the money to pursue these ends, the development of players, the dealings with he media.

I write this as a lover of football and as one who detests the sensationalism and diversion created by the media. The media aims to device and conquer, to create disharmony and missunderstanding and distrust where none existed before.

Trial by media follows not only ervery match, but only ervery training sessions and ervery interview given to the media. Why ? The supporters of football clubs love their team and follow tham loyalty, nobody is a supporter of a news paper, they have no fan clubs, they have no members. They rely for their existence on creating sensational stories simply to sell more papers and charge more for the advertising they carry.

The media needs Hamburg, Hamburg does not need the media.

It is essential to control access of the media to representativesof the club. The club shoud speak with one voice, through one representative.The players are employed to play football, not be media stars or commentators. The club must control the information it provides to the media, it must tell the media what the club wants to say and when it wants to say it. If they aks questions on other topics, ignore the question an repeat your position, This is the technique used by politicians all the time.

Think of Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, only he speaks for the club and ruled with an iron fist, even God would need to make an appointment.

Hamburg must find such a spokesman, the players, coach and alle others must understand that they are with the club to play the best football and the club will give them the support they require. However they are not there to talk !

„What happens in Hamburger SV, stays in Hamburger SV“

This must be the foundation for your future otherwise the problems of structure, players, playing style, coaches, managers and finance will be build on a foundation of sand eroded every opportunity the media gets to attack.

Believe in your players, your coach, your club an think deeply about the future you want for your cluband how this can best be achieved.

Make your players proud to wear the coulours, support their effects on the field.

Criticism is easy but distructive – do not follow the path.

Thtink not in the short term, otherwise these problems will arise again. Do not thinking about building a team, think of building a stronger better club that will provide stability an depth for the future.

Greetings from Australia

 

[Richard ist Engländer, lebt in Melbourne/Australien und ist Fan der Tottenham Hotspur]