New Hertha Berlin manager Mark Stewart gives us his thoughts on joining the Top 100 and how life is treating him in Berlin.
Stewart took up the managerial reigns on March 5th 2016, with the club in 5th place chasing promotion and fans were eager to find out more about their new manager.
Hertha Berlin Overview
Stewart who's hobbies include eating Skittles and drinking Vodka quickly pointed out he wasn't going to be a short term option like the clubs previous four managers and said he hoped to bring stability and success to the club.
Stewart goes on to state "I took time to assess my squad and overall was pleased, I didn't want to make wholesale changes but had to get rid of a couple to bring new players in". The fall guys were 37 year old Tim Howard and 31 year old Glenn Johnson moving on for £4.4m and £6m respectively. "I realised I wasn't going to be able to bring any big name players in with a modest budget,and being in the bottom division. So I set my sights on the future spending the received transfer money plus kitty money on 19 players, the vast majority of which are under 23 years old"
Hertha Berlins life in the league has improved since Stewarts arrival the Germans have picked up 6 wins, 3 draws and suffered 3 defeats in Stewart's tenure. The pick of the results have been a 3-3 away draw to fellow promotion hopefuls Stuttgart, 3-1 down with 15 minutes to go Berlin struck twice to save a point and show the fans they are up for the fight and will never give up.
They followed this by beating fellow promotion hopefuls Santos 3-2 with a late winner again coming this time in the 81st minute. Most recently Berlin have climbed to 3rd place with 3-0 and 5-0 wins against Flamengo and Twente. Stewart has said automatic promotion is the aim and we are fully focussed on getting the prize.
Stewart was asked about his most valuable players and diplomatically said everyone had a major part to play but did point out the strike force of Alexandro Pato and Demba Ba plus the enigmatic winger Balasz Dsudaks were key to the formation and tactics and had contributed massively to picking up 21 points from a possible 36 in his reign.
Top 100 Overview
I hadn't managed in such a professional organised league before this and my initial thoughts were to sell Pato and Ba for big money, luckily I didn't rush into this as I quickly realised I wouldn't find good and experienced enough able replacements so rejected bids for both.
I have been made to feel very welcome and love the interaction on the news feeds and blogs, There are some great writers here who make me chuckle with their updates. My aim is to be a long serving manager in this league and I want to try and build a great foundation and future for Hertha Berlin.
Thanks for reading my update and I hope to post again soon
Nice piece
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