Thread 🧵 here for @AberdeenFC fans especially. You might not have known the name Bernhard Peters until today but he is someone with credibility at the very highest level of football & sports innovation & high performance in Germany & beyond. Most of you will know of Hoffenheim, a Bundesliga club since 2008. Bernhard Peters (with others like Ralf Rangnick) was instrumental as Director of Sport in establishing Hoffenheim, once a small village club, as part of the fixtures & fittings in one of the world’s top leagues.

Thread 🧵 on #Gladbach & #USMNT defender Joe Scally. Although just back from his summer holiday, the fact that Ramy Bensebaini & Luca Netz are out due to Corona, may mean Scally gets some game time against 1860 on Sunday on the left. He has been talking to Kicker. Quotes follow. 2/ Scally on his targets for the season: “With Borussia to end up higher up the table. Personally to get as many appearances as possible & to start as many games as I can.”
With #USMNT “I hope I can be at the World Cup.”

The ARD Radio broadcasters have reported that they in their words “were attacked” by English fans behind them as the West Ham goal went in for 1:1. You could hear it on air. It disrupted the broadcast briefly. “I’ve never experienced anything like it.” #WHUSGE 2/ Talk on air from both commentators about being in shock & they feel perhaps the fans who attacked them didn’t like their loud goal shout for the Knauff 1:0. They say no security there to protect them. #WHUSGE

🧵 RB Leipzig assistant coach Andreas Hinkel (ex Celtic) tells Kicker they have been well informed about Rangers by a particular Glasgow source. More in this thread to get you ready for Leipzig-Rangers. #RBLRFC 2/ Hinkel: “Of course we have analysed them & collected a lot of information. Among other people we have spoken to on the phone & asked for info from is John Kennedy, the Celtic assistant coach, my former teammate & someone I still stay fairly closely in touch with.”
#RBLRFC

Watching the Kimmich interview now on ZDF. I’ll post the key points below.
To be fair to him, his tone is one of someone who has learned the hard way & wishes he had avoided getting Covid while unvaccinated. Kimmich says his it was a difficult time for him. He was lucky his infection was “relatively mild.” But he lost taste & smell & a medical check showed he had some fluid in the lung. Therefore 10 days before he can return to training.

Max Eberl, the live guest on @sportstudio says it’s not a nice situation (14 conceded in 3) for Gladbach and agrees it is a concerning situation. The players are not showing quality on the pitch. He said problem has been cutting out crosses and covering in centre of defence. Eberl says he’s surprised they’re not playing football that shows they have trust in each other. Not defending as Bundesliga team must. Says coach and he himself are responsible but as are the players.

🧵 Long BILD piece today on Wolfsburg & #USMNT defender John (Jay as he’s often referred to in Germany) Brooks.
The part in bold says Bild’s information is USA coach Gregg Berhalter was not happy with Brooks in his most recent appearances & that there was an attitude problem. 2/ It points out that Brooks has become the “problem child” at Wolfsburg, subbed off at HT in the 0:3 “horror performance” (Bild’s words) in Mainz & not picked at all for the crucial CL MD6 showdown with Lille.

1/ 🧵 ahead of Bayern-Hoffenheim (my Sat commentary game) for the world feed. Kicker quotes from #USMNT defender Chris Richards as he prepares to face his parent club. Richards says he wasn’t disappointed when Julian Nagelsmann decided not to build his squad with him. #FCBTSG 2/ Richards: “I wanted to return to Hoffenheim. In the summer it emerged that there would continue to be a lot of competition in Munich & I wouldn’t play every game for a long time. I’m not afraid of competition but it was better for me to go to Hoffenheim & play regularly.”

1/ Thread: On the back of yesterday‘s Newcastle news, it might be helpful to explain to fans of Premier League clubs why their counterparts in Germany don’t view the football world in the same way. Why being bankrolled is not the goal & why both leagues will remain different. 2/ I was chatting to a Köln fan recently about this. For him, Köln is life - shared community, passion. He has a say in the club‘s direction along with other fans. In his words, if big wealth funds or equivalent, were to do as in England, he & others would go & watch Regionalliga

1/ Big focus piece on @RBLeipzig_EN coach Jesse Marsch in the Monday @kicker_bl_li magazine. He spoke to Oliver Hartmann at the club’s Austrian training camp. I’ll summarise the key points in this thread for non German speakers. 2/ The piece notes first that Marsch is not your typical Bundesliga coach, favouring openness, fun & freedom over the more usual distance, discipline & rules. Marsch immediately is “per du” with his interviewer, as opposed to using the formal “Sie” or “Herr Hartmann.”

Various sources say Hungary‘s Prime Minister Viktor Orban won‘t attend tonight’s Germany-Hungary game. Orban would have faced a sea of rainbow flags. Around 11,000 to be distributed among 🇩🇪 fans although UEFA denied permission for the stadium to be lit up in rainbow colours. While UEFA turned down the request to illuminate the Arena in this way, city officials will light up the Olympic tower instead as well as the Rathaus (town hall) in the Marienplatz. Bayern München president Herbert Hainer says he disagrees with UEFA‘s stance.

1/ For Rangers fans who follow & anyone else genuinely intent on overcoming the scourge of racism, Kicker has done a long and very good Q & A with German born Nigerian international Leon Balogun. He also praises Scott Brown. I’ll translate the most interesting parts here. 2/ If any Scottish journalist friends plan on using any of it, remember this is Kicker‘s work (Mario Krischel) so please give them credit. Translation is all mine.

1/ Due to Germany duties, didn’t get to watch a minute of Scotland-Austria. But have been scanning the Austrian papers & they definitely feel they missed a big opportunity. A game they expected to win. They see Denmark as the group favourites & feel they have lost ground. Thread. 2/ Xaver Schlager: “These are games that we should win & we didn’t manage that. 2 dropped points.”
Christoph Baumgartner: “It’s a bitter feeling to have taken just a point. We really wanted all 3 especially when you’re leading near the end.”

1/ Mentioned to Celtic fans yesterday, a future task is identifying coaches on the way up. But to do that you need an experienced sporting division. Stuttgart for example have that. Sven Mislintat & his staff (ably supported from the top by @ThomasHitz.) 2/ What do the sporting team do? They set the tone for club DNA, way of playing, scouting, youth, making transfer policy work in football & financial terms, style. The coach is the extended arm of that overall philosophy. He has to fit those values & that style.

1/ UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told UK Sky that Euros venues must guarantee fans or risk be taken off the list. Bizarre is the most charitable way to put that! How can anyone make a deal with a novel virus in this way? More to come. 2/ Sense from Munich‘s mayor Dieter Reiter talking to BILD. “As much as I would like to be able to look into the future, alas I can’t. At present it’s plainly not possible to say whether pandemic infection numbers will allow fans in June or not.”

1/ Mini thread on Marsch. I’ve been saying for a while when asked by Celtic fans about what is needed to attract a coach like Jesse, you first need a fully functioning sporting division. First things first. When he asks “what would the project look like?” that is what he means. 2/ Suggestion to a Celtic is create a German style sporting division. The coach is after that. If you’re in Marsch’s shoes, you could soon have the choice between working with Max Eberl’s superb sporting division in Gladbach or the Leipzig system he has been de facto a part of.

1/ Going to start the day with a thread about Leon Goretzka’s comments to Welt am Sonntag. As you may know, Goretzka is a socially engaged footballer. He & Bayern teammate Joshua Kimmich in the early phase of the pandemic started the “We Kick Corona” initiative. 2/ The goal was to help charities, welfare orgs & medical facilities. Both said as healthy, privileged footballers, they had a social responsibility to help others. Goretzka recently visited the Dachau concentration camp & has met with Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer.

DFL briefing underway.
Christian Seifert: “What remains decisive for us is what the politicians decide. If it’s 9 May, then we would be ready then. If it’s later, we would be ready on that date.” Seifert: “There are many reasons to criticise or even reject it on emotional grounds, or because it just doesn’t feel right.”