“It’s important that we get going again”

Now we know: The German Football League (DFL) held a meeting on Thursday (07/05/20), announcing that the will get going again on May 16th, 2020. The day before, the government gave the green light. For Hertha, their first meeting is away at TSG Hoffenheim next Saturday, a match which should have happened on March 14th, but for the Corona crisis. Now, exactly 70 days after the last match against Werder Bremen (2-2), the game will finally happen. Hertha's sporting director Michael Preetz spoke to the media about the league restarting and what the game against Hoffenheim might bring. We collected all the important quotes:

Michael Preetz on...

…the video by Salomon Kalou: When I saw the video, my first thought was: 'We won't miss anything this season either'. To be honest, this feeling quickly changed - I was shocked about what I was seeing. I had no explanation for the video when it first came out and I still don’t. The topic is being talked about a lot and it is beyond dispute that we are talking about serious behaviour by a player. In our view, there was no other option than to sanction him. It’s also important to recognise for us though, that Salomon has been with us here for six years. He’s been a great ambassador for the club up to now and he tends to think outside the box, both on and off the pitch. It’s clear though that this behaviour was totally wrong and he’s taken full responsibility for that. We won’t condemn him for it, but we have had to suspend him.

…the behaviour of the other protagonists in the video: There were plenty of mistakes made in this video. I think everyone has their own interpretation of what happened. No one can get away from the fact that Salomon is filming the video. Nevertheless, not all of the others in it behaved in accordance with the rules. We made it very clear what we thought about it, and we had intense discussions with the players about keeping their distance and important hygiene rules. We do everything in our power to ensure that the rules are followed. Our physiotherapist David de Mel, who took a smear from Jordan Torunarigha, made the right decision in this case because he used mouth and nose protection and hand gloves - for a symptom-free player. The protective suit must be changed when the player has symptoms. That wasn't the case with Jordan. We also consulted with the DFL, who agreed with us that our physio did the right thing in this case.

…a possible exchange with Vedad Ibisevic: Vedo immediately sought a conversation with me when he became aware of what had happened. No one knew at the time that Salomon was virtually on the air. The starting point for the discussion about the payroll was an incorrect calculation on our part - these are the things that should not happen, but can happen. The error was also corrected immediately.

…reactions from other clubs to the Kalou video: I received no reaction. At this point, it also makes sense to say that I tried to communicate with the DFL on my own and called Ansgar Schwenken on the phone. I brought him into our conversations and shared with him how we planned to deal with this issue. He was informed about our communication, so we were in close exchange with the league at this very moment.

…plans from now up to the start of the league: Since midday today, we have had final clarity that the Bundesliga will resume play on May 16th, 2020 with the 26th matchday. That means we will have to go to Hoffenheim on Saturday at 3:30PM. We will of course comply with the DFL quarantine regulations in the mean time. The plan is for us to go to our team quarters - the Hotel Palace, we will make further arrangements with the hotel in due course. The hotel is not really in operation at the moment - and now there is a Bundesliga team wanting to stay there with a significant number of guests so we’ll have to get something sorted. We will hold the one-week quarantine in this training camp - and travel back and forth from the hotel to our training grounds at the Olympic Park in accordance with current hygiene regulations. That will be the only time we go out.

...the approval of the Berlin Senate for regular team training: The conditions for approval have been created by the government and the DFL. Almost all 36 professional clubs can now restart regular training. In this respect, I hope that we can expect a positive decision from the Berlin Senate very soon. According to my information, they will meet on Thursday afternoon and we hope that we will receive positive feedback in the evening so that we can start the team training on Friday. There will be a decision for both Bundesliga teams in Berlin - in my opinion it only makes sense that there is equal treatment. Either way, we don’t have many training sessions left before we get back underway again, but we knew beforehand that we would have to accept things like this in such a difficult situation. Nevertheless, we are very happy that we can get going again.

…the restart date: This is a decision that the DFL Presidium made before the General Assembly. There are good arguments for both dates (May 16th and 23rd, 2020) - no question about that. We have always said that tit was really important for us to get going again. We are fully behind the date of the resumption on May 16th, 2020 and totally agree with the league's approach. At this point I would like to emphasise that the DFL did an excellent job during this unprecedented situation. It’s only through their good work that we’re able to start the season again, and that can’t be left unsaid.

...the squad for the quarantine training camp: We have trained in different groups of up to eight people in the past few weeks and we plan to go to the training camp doing the same. We are currently compiling the final list. The number will surely be over 30.

…question marks over whether the players are ready: We cannot force anyone to do something that they do not want to do. We have fully informed the players. Through close testing and various measures, we are trying to ensure that the players ideally do not become infected. The players are generally very well protected. We are all talking about young people who are in the prime of their time. I haven’t come across a single player in our squad who is afraid of this situation. Quite the contrary: I am looking forward to seeing it finally start again. In addition to the health aspects, it has been difficult these past few weeks to try and build up to a game when we didn’t know when it wasting to happen. Now there is a clear goal, and that’s to be ready for May 16th, 2020. Our players are all looking forward to that. Of course we are in close contact with our players about this, but no one has come to us who said that he has a problem with it.

…expectations for the rest of the games: Good question, but a difficult one to answer because we cannot estimate the level of performance of all 36 teams - this situation affects everyone, not just Hertha BSC. We also have to add that we have a new coaching team that are only going into their fourth week with the team. Even if we haven’t ironed out the particulars yet, it’s been valuable time because the coaches and players have got to know each other and we know what we want to do. We are excited to see what awaits us next weekend. The situation is completely unfamiliar. Ghost games are not nice for anyone, but unfortunately there is currently no other solution. There are a lot of question marks over the players’ fitness at the moment. Of course we hope that we can get out of our starting blocks and find our rhythm quickly. For Bruno Labbadia personally, the important thing is that he now collects his thoughts and first impressions of the players, because he will have to pick the team next Saturday.