You Schmad?
- Thread starter rurikbird
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We could have the best SD/DOF in the game, if we don't have the money to sign players....what good is it?
& how much do fans really know anyway about sporting directors and how well a job they do? A lot of fans don't watch other lower European football (I'm talking the lesser sides in the top leagues) as it is so won't know much about their players or managers, what on earth will they know about the job their SD does?
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Wait for the nerds, @Modo [/USER] @King Binny
Managerial career[edit]
In December 2001, Schmadtke started working as sporting director at Aachen which had four million Euro debt and were in danger of losing the license. He was able to build up the team and scouting. In the 2004–05 season, Alemannia Aachen reached the German Cup final. The following season, the team earned promotion into the first league. The club prospered financially. In October 2008 he announced to not renew his contract which ran until 2009, and was released from work the next day. Coach Dieter Hecking said that Schmadtke knew every player from the first down to the fourth tier. Transfers included Erik Meijer, Simon Rolfes, Jan Schlaudraff, Vedad Ibisevic.[2][3][4]
From summer 2009 up to June 2013, Schmadtke worked as sporting director of Hannover 96. In 2011, his contract was changed to an indefinite contract, and he joined the executive board as "Geschäftsführer Sport". Hannover had a few very successful seasons, both from a sports perspective (they reached the fourth position in the league and played in the UEFA cup), as well as financially. For private reasons, Schmadtke reduced his workload and also took a couple of weeks timeout in 2012. In April 2013, he asked to terminate his contract. Transfers included Didier Ya Konan, Mohammed Abdellaoue, Lars Stindl, Emanuel Pogatetz, Ron-Robert Zieler, Mame Diouf.[5]
After being in short talks with Hamburger SV, he started to work as Co-CEO sports for 1. FC Köln ltd in June 2013. Köln managed to be promoted in the Bundesliga and to improve its sports and financial status since then every year. In April 2017, Schmadtke and Wehrle signed a contract extension until 2023. Transfers included Dominique Heintz, Anthony Modeste, Leonardo Bittencourt, Marco Höger, Jorge Meré.
In 2011 and 2017, Schmadtke received the "manager of the year" award.[6][7]
He resigned on 23 October 2017.[8]
On 22 May 2018, VfL Wolfsburg announced through Twitter the hiring of Schmadtke as the club's new Director of Sport. He was slated to start on 1 July,[9] however on 1 June, VfL Wolfsburg announced on its web page that he was able to start immediately, thanks to a negotiation between 1. FC Köln and VfL Wolfsburg.[10] It was reported in papers that Wolfsburg paid a half-million Euro to Köln to lift the occupational ban that was set on Schmadtke,[11] thus allowing him to work one month earlier than originally planned.
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Title like!
Sounds like a Klopp (influenced) appointment - double edged sword?
Schmadtke's exit interview: "I'm not as a big an ass as people think."
Cologne sporting director Joerg Schmadtke being investigated for throwing chewing gum at Hoffenheim boss Julian Nagelsmann
Schmadtke's exit interview: "I'm not as a big an ass as people think."
Cologne sporting director Joerg Schmadtke being investigated for throwing chewing gum at Hoffenheim boss Julian Nagelsmann
he signed erik meijer!!!!
We all know Pep L finds the players, Klopp gives the green light, and the club says if its in the budget. The only issue we've had has not been the quality of the signing is just there's been too few. I am assuming (some) scouts work on commission, and Smackhead knows more scouts to add to the books. Totally guessing... I am not gonna write a guy off before he has proven to me he is useless.
My guess is that somewhere in Liverpool's scouting / recruitment team is a guy like you who suggests a new player every five minutes and Schmadtke has been brought in to smack him.
"Weshouldsignugartethuramcaicedokoneand..." SMACK
No, no, no... I have not promoted the signing of Moises, just too expensive and way over rated. I don't need reminding of Naby.
Come on now tell me you wouldn't be jumping for joy if we got Ugarte and Thuram this window alongside Ali Mac?
Then all we need is a CB/RB, which I have not given any names as yet other than jurrien timber
Why Liverpool want Jorg Schmadtke as their new sporting director
Raphael Honigstein
May 7, 2023
13
Jorg Schmadtke has been described as an “ally” of Jurgen Klopp, but it’s not immediately clear why. Despite a four-decade career as player, manager and executive in the Bundesliga, the 59-year-old has never had any extensive dealings with the Liverpool manager before, although that could soon be changing if the club’s talks with Schmadtke end with him taking the sporting director role.
On the one occasion they did share the same dressing room, at Fortuna Dusseldorf in 1986, Klopp was such a disaster that Schmadtke was apparently put off working with him forever. “I was 19 and had a dream of making it as a pro,” Klopp told Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung in January. “I went to a trial at Fortuna where Jorg was in goal and a very big name there. I put everything into it and ran like a devil but what can I say? I was a total flop. I guess Schmadtke remembered that. He never made me an offer (to coach) at any of his clubs. He must have thought: if Klopp can’t play football, he can’t be a decent manager either.”
Schmadtke, a charismatic goalkeeper who stood out for his good footwork and garish shirts, was not satisfied with being a mere pro. He wanted to manage. During his time at Fortuna and later at SC Freiburg, he coached youth teams and also studied engineering and economics. At a time when Abiturenten (A-level graduates) were still in a minority in German football, he was quickly noted for his intellect.
Following short stints as assistant coach at Borussia Monchengladbach and as goalkeeping coach at Fortuna, Schmadtke saw a job advert in Kicker magazine in 2001, inviting applications for the sporting director role at second division Alemannia Aachen. It was “pure desperation” that led him to apply, he said later, but unlike his two rival candidates, Schmatdke prepared a PowerPoint presentation that won over the club bosses.
He sensationally took Aachen into the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal final and the UEFA Cup. He’d repeat the trick at Hannover 96 (2009-2013) and Cologne (2013-2017), guiding them into Europe without spending huge sums of money. At VfL Wolfsburg, his last job before seeking retirement at the beginning of this year, he turned a side that had fought against relegation before his arrival into a Champions League team. “He was successful everywhere he went,” Hannover 96 president Martin Kind said.
Jorg Schmadtke with Lukas Podolski (Photo: Oliver Hardt/Getty Images)
Schmadtke improved all clubs by “making fewer mistakes than others” when it came to hiring coaches and signing players but there was another pattern to his work that prevented him getting more high-profile jobs. Before too long, he either fell out with those above him (Aachen, Hannover, Cologne), with those managing the team or with both.
A lingering tension between coach and sporting director is inherent in the German model as the former’s short-term demands often run counter to the latter’s more strategic view. But few seemed to delight in making those fault lines public as much as Schmadtke did in countless cantankerous, bad-tempered interviews.
“Everyone knows that me and Mirko (Slovak) won’t hire a camper van, drive across Canada and hunt grizzlies,” he said, when his relationship with the Hannover coach had run its course. A breakdown in relations with Peter Stoger led to Schmadtke’s departure at Cologne and, at Wolfsburg, he clashed with Bruno Labbadia. “I won’t exchange cooking recipes and plan a holiday with him,” he said of Labbadia, who soon left to take over Hertha BSC.
His successor, Oliver Glasner, finished in the top four but he and Schmadtke could not hide their disagreements over transfer policy. “His ideas were not realistic, this is not (German amusement park) Phantasialand here,” Schmadtke said after the Austrian coach had complained about a lack of pace up front.
Perhaps Schmadtke’s forthright style was so remarkable because all around him, a new breed of slicker, more careful operators were taking control of clubs in Germany. Those who know ‘Schmaddi’ well insist that he’s a much more humorous, good-natured person in private. Schmadtke himself seemed to imply in a series of farewell interviews earlier this year that his image as permanently miffed grouch was a bit of a front designed to scare off media attention. “I’m not as big a dick as some think,” he told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
His carefully cultivated gruff demeanour explains why news of his possible arrival at Anfield was widely greeted with incredulity in his homeland. It’s not easy to imagine him working in a different country, nor in a role that doesn’t entail having the final word on all things football. As managing director for sport at Hannover, Cologne and Wolfsburg, he’d been the face of and most powerful figure at the club. Sporting directors in the Premier League, by contrast, tend to work in the shadows and often play second fiddle to managers. He’ll have to get used to a very different dynamic working under or beside Klopp, not above him.
(Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Identifying and signing players of the level required by Liverpool will also be a departure. Schmadtke has overseen hundreds of moves in the last two decades, notching up plenty of hits as well as (inevitably) the odd dud, but he’s been more adept at bringing in solid performers such as the Nmecha brothers, Felix and Lukas or French centre-back Maxence Lacroix (all at Wolfsburg) than uncovering genuine superstars.
Shortly after taking over at Wolfsburg in 2018, he sanctioned the loan and eventual €3.5million sale of Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen — bought by Klaus Allofs and Olaf Rebbe, the previous regime — to Belgium club RSC Charleroi. They sold him on to LOSC Lille for €22m only four weeks later.
“It wasn’t a good move, in hindsight,” Schmadtke admitted in an interview with Kicker. “When I came, he was limping and running in circles. I was told that the strikers we had weren’t good enough.” Schmadtke later installed his son Nils, 34, as head of scouting at the Lower Saxons.
Klopp’s agent Marc Kosicke had plenty of dealings with Schmadtke when his client Florian Kohfeldt was at Wolfsburg last season. Schmadtke wanted to continue with him despite some disappointing results but other figures within the club reportedly favoured Niko Kovac, who took over in the summer. That disagreement, insiders suspected, played a role in Schmadtke leaving the club and announcing his retirement in January.
Jorg Schmadtke is given a retirement gift by VfL Wolfsburg (Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Speaking to Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung back then, Klopp seemed to hint that he could see himself linking up with Schmadtke properly in the future. “I would have liked to work with him, I’m sure it would have worked out well,” the 55-year-old said. “He’s a top character, somebody who never changed in 38 years and stayed true to himself. He’ll be missed by football.”
If the news coming out of Merseyside is correct, he won’t be for long.
Raphael Honigstein
May 7, 2023
13
Jorg Schmadtke has been described as an “ally” of Jurgen Klopp, but it’s not immediately clear why. Despite a four-decade career as player, manager and executive in the Bundesliga, the 59-year-old has never had any extensive dealings with the Liverpool manager before, although that could soon be changing if the club’s talks with Schmadtke end with him taking the sporting director role.
On the one occasion they did share the same dressing room, at Fortuna Dusseldorf in 1986, Klopp was such a disaster that Schmadtke was apparently put off working with him forever. “I was 19 and had a dream of making it as a pro,” Klopp told Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung in January. “I went to a trial at Fortuna where Jorg was in goal and a very big name there. I put everything into it and ran like a devil but what can I say? I was a total flop. I guess Schmadtke remembered that. He never made me an offer (to coach) at any of his clubs. He must have thought: if Klopp can’t play football, he can’t be a decent manager either.”
Schmadtke, a charismatic goalkeeper who stood out for his good footwork and garish shirts, was not satisfied with being a mere pro. He wanted to manage. During his time at Fortuna and later at SC Freiburg, he coached youth teams and also studied engineering and economics. At a time when Abiturenten (A-level graduates) were still in a minority in German football, he was quickly noted for his intellect.
Following short stints as assistant coach at Borussia Monchengladbach and as goalkeeping coach at Fortuna, Schmadtke saw a job advert in Kicker magazine in 2001, inviting applications for the sporting director role at second division Alemannia Aachen. It was “pure desperation” that led him to apply, he said later, but unlike his two rival candidates, Schmatdke prepared a PowerPoint presentation that won over the club bosses.
He sensationally took Aachen into the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal final and the UEFA Cup. He’d repeat the trick at Hannover 96 (2009-2013) and Cologne (2013-2017), guiding them into Europe without spending huge sums of money. At VfL Wolfsburg, his last job before seeking retirement at the beginning of this year, he turned a side that had fought against relegation before his arrival into a Champions League team. “He was successful everywhere he went,” Hannover 96 president Martin Kind said.
Jorg Schmadtke with Lukas Podolski (Photo: Oliver Hardt/Getty Images)
Schmadtke improved all clubs by “making fewer mistakes than others” when it came to hiring coaches and signing players but there was another pattern to his work that prevented him getting more high-profile jobs. Before too long, he either fell out with those above him (Aachen, Hannover, Cologne), with those managing the team or with both.
A lingering tension between coach and sporting director is inherent in the German model as the former’s short-term demands often run counter to the latter’s more strategic view. But few seemed to delight in making those fault lines public as much as Schmadtke did in countless cantankerous, bad-tempered interviews.
“Everyone knows that me and Mirko (Slovak) won’t hire a camper van, drive across Canada and hunt grizzlies,” he said, when his relationship with the Hannover coach had run its course. A breakdown in relations with Peter Stoger led to Schmadtke’s departure at Cologne and, at Wolfsburg, he clashed with Bruno Labbadia. “I won’t exchange cooking recipes and plan a holiday with him,” he said of Labbadia, who soon left to take over Hertha BSC.
His successor, Oliver Glasner, finished in the top four but he and Schmadtke could not hide their disagreements over transfer policy. “His ideas were not realistic, this is not (German amusement park) Phantasialand here,” Schmadtke said after the Austrian coach had complained about a lack of pace up front.
Perhaps Schmadtke’s forthright style was so remarkable because all around him, a new breed of slicker, more careful operators were taking control of clubs in Germany. Those who know ‘Schmaddi’ well insist that he’s a much more humorous, good-natured person in private. Schmadtke himself seemed to imply in a series of farewell interviews earlier this year that his image as permanently miffed grouch was a bit of a front designed to scare off media attention. “I’m not as big a dick as some think,” he told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
His carefully cultivated gruff demeanour explains why news of his possible arrival at Anfield was widely greeted with incredulity in his homeland. It’s not easy to imagine him working in a different country, nor in a role that doesn’t entail having the final word on all things football. As managing director for sport at Hannover, Cologne and Wolfsburg, he’d been the face of and most powerful figure at the club. Sporting directors in the Premier League, by contrast, tend to work in the shadows and often play second fiddle to managers. He’ll have to get used to a very different dynamic working under or beside Klopp, not above him.
(Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Identifying and signing players of the level required by Liverpool will also be a departure. Schmadtke has overseen hundreds of moves in the last two decades, notching up plenty of hits as well as (inevitably) the odd dud, but he’s been more adept at bringing in solid performers such as the Nmecha brothers, Felix and Lukas or French centre-back Maxence Lacroix (all at Wolfsburg) than uncovering genuine superstars.
Shortly after taking over at Wolfsburg in 2018, he sanctioned the loan and eventual €3.5million sale of Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen — bought by Klaus Allofs and Olaf Rebbe, the previous regime — to Belgium club RSC Charleroi. They sold him on to LOSC Lille for €22m only four weeks later.
“It wasn’t a good move, in hindsight,” Schmadtke admitted in an interview with Kicker. “When I came, he was limping and running in circles. I was told that the strikers we had weren’t good enough.” Schmadtke later installed his son Nils, 34, as head of scouting at the Lower Saxons.
Klopp’s agent Marc Kosicke had plenty of dealings with Schmadtke when his client Florian Kohfeldt was at Wolfsburg last season. Schmadtke wanted to continue with him despite some disappointing results but other figures within the club reportedly favoured Niko Kovac, who took over in the summer. That disagreement, insiders suspected, played a role in Schmadtke leaving the club and announcing his retirement in January.
Jorg Schmadtke is given a retirement gift by VfL Wolfsburg (Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Speaking to Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung back then, Klopp seemed to hint that he could see himself linking up with Schmadtke properly in the future. “I would have liked to work with him, I’m sure it would have worked out well,” the 55-year-old said. “He’s a top character, somebody who never changed in 38 years and stayed true to himself. He’ll be missed by football.”
If the news coming out of Merseyside is correct, he won’t be for long.
Bundesliga fans know about Fat Sam???
WTF - I despair sometimes. Who's to say he's going to be shit? 'Whelmed' 'we're in trouble' seriously? - Support the team you whoppers and by proxy those who make these decisions. Who else were they after? Having said that if some of you have degrees in sport science and a history of making decisions on such appointments I'll bow to your better knowledge.
I do actually have a relevant degree ya whopper.
You only need to look at the list of players he's signed and sold to draw the same conclusions.
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