Hermann Gerland developed youth players at FC Bayern for over 25 years, including the likes of Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, David Alaba and Thomas Müller. He also enjoyed great success as an assistant to coaches such as Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola, Louis van Gaal and Hansi Flick. The ‘Tiger’ turns 70 on 4 June. In an interview with FC Bayern members' magazine ‘51’, he talks about how his retirement is going, what young players need to have to become professionals, and what FC Bayern still means to him today.
Interview with Hermann Gerland
Hermann Gerland, how is your retirement going?
Hermann Gerland: “I'm mainly involved as assistant coach of the Germany U21 team. I watch a lot of youth games, a lot of talented young players, including here on my doorstep at FC Bayern. I don't like travelling far anymore, so I watch a lot of football on TV at home. I also visit Unterhaching from time to time and help out with their youth work. Some people are eager to learn, some think they know better than a 70-year-old who has spent his whole life focusing exclusively on football. But that's their problem [smiles].”
What’s your view of the Funino form of the game in youth football?
“We discussed this with Hannes Wolf, the German FA’s sporting director for youth football, in my living room. Today we have better pitches, better boots, better balls, better nutrition, better medical facilities - everything is so much better than it was in my day. But back then, we played one-v-one situations. Endlessly. At the end of the day, football is simple: whoever is best at resolving one-v-one situations will always do well. What more could you want? And this form of the game encourages that much more. With 11-year-olds, you don't have to come with a tactics board.”
A plea for free spirits.
“I recently watched a youth match here at FC Deisenhofen. They had a bold striker who was always dribbling. He got stuck twice, but each time with a lot of bad luck. The coach shouted: ‘Pass the ball!’ Afterwards, I went to the coach and asked him if he knew Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and what he thought would have happened if his youth coach had forbidden him to dribble earlier. He would never have become world class. We have to encourage courage. Do you know how I can tell when I'm watching a good game of football?”
How?
“The fact that I don’t look at the clock. I'm a football fanatic. I love it when they play forward, when the passes are played to run onto, when they tackle cleanly and when someone gets up again when they're down. That's football! What do people want to see? Good games, good players! Football has to be exciting. And who gets excited when the ball only switches back and forth between goalkeeper, centre-back and full-back? For me, possession only counts in the opponent's half. You have to put your stamp on the game, then a stadium stands to a man and screams its head off. We have to be guided by what the spectators want to see. Here in Munich, they want the Reds to win - and good football.”
Is football an easy game?
“It's easy to play, but playing easy is very difficult.”
Almost philosophical.
“It's about fundamentals. I'll tell you something else. You have to train hard when you're young. Thomas Müller has always trained properly, and now has over 700 games for Bayern plus 130 international caps. Philipp Lahm and Basti Schweinsteiger have also been at the top level their entire careers. Today, players often drop like flies.”
Is the game being made unnecessarily complicated today?
“I often get the impression that the analysts are more important than the assistant coaches these days. Pep Guardiola once said to me: ‘I have 100 thoughts in my head, but my job is to communicate the 10 most important ones to my players’. Otherwise, he would overload the players.”
„I'm a football fanatic. I love it when they play forward, when the passes are played to run onto, when they tackle cleanly and when someone gets up again when they're down. That's football!”
Hermann Gerland
What do young players need to become professionals?
“You can't do it without talent. You have to train, you have to listen, you have to want it, and you have to measure yourself against the big boys. Even back in the days at the Olympic Stadium, I always went to the seats that were reserved for our youth players at our senior matches. Out of 25, there were often only four there, but curiously enough, those same four later made it into the Bundesliga themselves.”
The will to learn should probably never stop, even as a professional.
“When Louis van Gaal started at FC Bayern, he had players practising flat passes until their feet fell off. And what unimaginable passing machines we created. The lads were suddenly able to hit - and receive - passes with such sharpness. It was fantastic. Before Louis van Gaal, FC Bayern was: ‘Mia san mia, and a win is a win’. Van Gaal took everything to a new level. He was exhausting, but he was very, very important for the history of this club. Everything was different before him, and afterwards too.”
You've already mentioned Guardiola - what was it like with him?
“Pep is a genius. Even when we were 3-0 up, he always had a new idea. Every now and then I thought we should bring on a defender, but Pep brought on an attacking player and a few minutes later it was clear it was the right decision. I'm often asked who was the best coach I've ever worked with. I can't say. Carlo Ancelotti had a difficult time in Munich, but he’s a successful coach. Louis, Pep, Jupp Heynckes… Hansi Flick did it all here... I can only say one thing and that’s that they are all obsessed with football, and they all have human greatness, passion and heart. Because only then will the players go through fire for you. I'm glad that I've been able to work alongside so many great coaches.”
They will probably also say that they were glad to have had you by their side.
“Nobody complained afterwards [smiles]. Van Gaal told me that he would look at things with me for six weeks, and if it wasn't right, I'd be gone. The first task was for me to write down three sentences about each of our players as a characterisation. At the end of the season, he said to me that he'd never seen anyone be right in all their assessments, and that he agreed with everything I'd written down.”
Discipline is also important to become a professional at FC Bayern. Do you have any special, strict guidelines for yourself?
“If I'm late, it's a disaster for me. I've only been late once in my life, with Pep before a friendly against Barcelona. It was packed around the stadium; you couldn't get through. When I walked into the coaches’ changing room, everyone looked at me and said: ‘Get through the traffic jam early!’ That was actually always my saying. I deserved that one from them.”
What does FC Bayern still mean to you today?
“We keep our fingers crossed for FC Bayern at home every game. It’s my favourite club along with Bochum. And I think it's great that I can come along at any time, even under Thomas Tuchel, for example. I recently said to Halil Altintop, the sporting director at FC Bayern Campus: ‘You need to win more often again!’ Then he said: ‘Tiger, you're saying it wrong: not “you” but “we”!’ It's nice to still be considered part of FC Bayern.”
President Herbert Hainer also features in the latest edition of ‘51’
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