“No room to rest on our laurels” | OneFootball

CEO Axel Hellmann outlined his take-aways from last season and spoke about the squad and the camp in the USA.

Axel Hellmann on ...

…take-aways from last season: “Sixth place for Eintracht Frankfurt was a good result, no two ways about it, but there’s no room to rest on our laurels. We’ve had a number of discussions on various levels and carried out analyses, and in none of those discussions did I feel that there wasn’t enough critical self-reflection. We’ve brought in two new assistant coaches for the new season who will have different inputs – that was Dino Toppmöller’s choice. They’re experts who will know exactly how to drive the players’ development forward. We’ve got a good team in terms of quality and I’m convinced that we have good players in our ranks – the key task is realising their potential. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be dealing very specifically with what we still need in the squad.”

…the training camp in the USA: “While the trip is primarily there for on-the-field purposes, we will be representing the Bundesliga and the DFL in the US and in particular the Mexican market, which is incredibly important for North American football, including in the USA. The fact that we’re heading over the border and playing a match in Mexico is therefore monumentally relevant. As well as the sporting focus, it’ll be a good team-building exercise as we’re planning a whole host of exciting events and activities.”

… transfers: “The important thing is maintaining our footballing identity and DNA, and also feeding experienced players and ones that people identify with into the system, for the younger players to follow.”

… experience in the squad: “I don’t want to mention specific names, least of all during the transfer window. But this is obviously a subject that we are aware of and I’m sure that management will get a well-functioning balance out onto the pitch, with players that people identify with. We have lost two out-and-out leaders from recent years with Seppl Rode and Makoto Hasebe going, and we’re not so naïve as to think that we’ll be able to plug in immediate replacements in terms of identification, performance, experience and leadership.”

… alterations to Deutsche Bank Park: “We came to the decision to commit 300 – 400 spots to hospitality concepts via the ‘Jürgen’ bar and the ‘Adler’ pub. I fully understand that the fans – the groups, the communities and associations – who used to sit there for years aren’t overly keen on the idea and currently see it as an attack on their own Eintracht experience. I also understand that we weren’t attentive or sensitive enough in our communication on this. It doesn’t change the fact of the matter, though, which is that this was necessary as we need to have these areas, and we will have them. The stadium was always set out for this to happen.

“When we renovated the north-west stand, we always said that we would create cheaper seats – and thousands of them – in the upper tier, enabling us to ensure a certain level of price stability. I’m absolutely convinced that, insofar as the framework and the conditions allow, we’ll be able to find the right solutions for everyone.”