New hope
October 3, 2009
The 55-year-old Funkel is due take his first training session on Saturday afternoon, and will preside over his first game on Sunday, when Hertha host league-leaders Hamburg at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
"We are convinced that we can turn the season around with Friedhelm Funkel and work our way out of the bottom step by step," Hertha's Sporting Director Michael Preetz said.
Funkel expressed similar enthusiasm: "For me, Hertha is a top club, even if it currently doesn't look that way on the table," he said, "The team has the potential, and we want to try to tap that in the coming weeks."
Funkel the former Frankfurter
But the new trainer, who coached Eintracht Frankfurt for the last five seasons, warned against unrealistic expectations. "We shouldn't expect any miracles. It'll take a bit of time. But we won't just try, we will succeed," he said.
Hertha sacked Swiss coach Lucien Favre last Monday after a horrific start to the season, in which the club picked up only three points from their first seven games. This was a serious blow to the confidence of a team that was in the race to be German champion for the first time for almost all of last season. Hertha ended up finishing fourth, only narrowly missing out on a Champions League.
Funkel arrives in the capital with plenty of Bundesliga experience, having coached five other top-flight teams in his 18-year career. He left Frankfurt by mutual consent in the summer, a season earlier than his contract stipulated.
bk/dpa/SID
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar