He apparently loathes Abramovich, doesn’t rate Jurgen Klinsmann as a coach, doesn’t think Ballack is a world class player, but likes Sven-Goran Eriksson .
I’m talking about Rummenigge.
Karl-Heinze Rummenigge is president of Bayern Munuch and Donald McCrae had a excellent interview with him in The Guardian yesterday. The story put me in mind of something Sky commentator Martin Tyler told me about KHR years ago.
On Jurgen, Rumennigge says :
“When Klinsmann came in two years ago as German manager everybody was astonished. He lives in America and believes in the American concept of sport. Many Germans are not positive because he needs to be here to follow the players and the Bundesliga. So far the signs are that he will be judged harshly after this tournament.”
On Brazil and England he says :
“Brazil have super players but I don’t believe they will win the World Cup. I think they will struggle in Germany. My own favourite teams, the two teams I expect to win the World Cup, are either Italy or England. I believe in England. They have a really good team and, in Sven-Goran Eriksson, a very good coach. Ten years ago I tried to get Sven to come to Bayern. I went to Lisbon and over dinner I offered him the job. But he decided to go to Italy instead.”
On Frank Lampard :
“Lampard is much stronger than Ballack. He is a level above Ballack – if obviously not at Ronaldinho’s level. Ballack is a good player but, unfortunately, on the national stage he hasn’t done well for Germany.”
On England :
“I will be really surprised if England don’t have a great tournament. We all know Rooney is something special and Sven is right to want to take him – even if he can only come on for the last 20 minutes in a quarter-final. But England are not dependent on Rooney anyway because they have many interesting players. I like Lampard a lot. He’s physically, tactically and technically strong. He has everything you need in a world class player. I believe he is England’s driving force.”
More spleen on Ballack, who left Bayern on a free transfer to join Chelski :
“Germany want to depend on Ballack but he doesn’t produce. It’s unfortunate because he scored some fantastic goals for Bayern and he’s maybe the best header in the world. But it was never a real love story between him and us – and it ended very badly.”
Like me, Rummenigge thinks Abramovich has destroyed the sport we all love :
“Chelsea have shown that football is no longer rational. Bayern had a profit last year of £24m. Chelsea had a loss of £140m. We would be bankrupt if that happened – but nothing happens to Chelsea. They just spend another £100m on new players. It is legal, what they are doing, but only from Chelsea’s point of view. For the rest of us it is not acceptable or fair.”
MYSELF, I THINK Germany will do OK. Klinsmann is a great guy who will play an attacking, pressing game and get the crowd behind his team. Ballack will have a superb World Cup and show us that he is one is one of the world’s greatest footballers.
Podolski, Schweinsteiger and Klose will take Costa Rica apart on Friday at 5 pm and as soon as I get a spare minute I’m gonna have a bet on that.
What did Martin Tyler say about Rummenigge?
Can I find the exact quote in a file transferred to a previous computer and then transferred again to this computer? Unfortunately, no.
From memory, Martin said : The day before the 1986 World Cup final in Mexico I interviewed the German manager and he said Rumenigge was not fit and wouldn’t play against Argentina. Then, a little while later, I talked to Rummenigge, and I was amazed when he told me he WAS fit and would play. On the day, he played and he obviously wasn’t fit, and they lost 3-2.