"We don't have to hide from any other academy!"
As Pablo Thiam wanders the halls of the academy, two things are guaranteed. His mobile phone will be in his hand at all times, and his diary will be jam-packed. With his free hand, the 47-year-old greets every single youth player he comes across. This sums up Thiam’s first few months at the club: driven and looking to move forward but always with our youngsters at the forefront of his mind. “You can see everything that we are building here. We are trying to embed that within the structure of the club so that it can be continued regardless of the names and the personnel. We are among Germany’s leading academies,” says the former pro, who arrived at Hertha at the start of July. In his interview with herthabsc.com, Thiam gives a detailed insight into his daily work in the academy and sheds light on personal and strategic changes that have been made to the youth set-up. He also talks about the pathway into professional football at Hertha BSC.
herthabsc.com: Pablo, you played a total of 311 Bundesliga matches, you won the Intercontinental Cup in 2001 and the German championship in 2003 and you made 31 appearances for the Guinea national team. What have you been up to since the end of your playing career?
Thiam: I was sure that I wanted to continue working in football, but I wasn’t 100% certain which role I wanted to take on. The only thing that was certain was that I didn't want to be a coach! So I started to look into management after retiring at VfL Wolfsburg, and I spent a year as assistant to Felix Magath. I was thrown in at the deep end and got to know the workings of a professional football club in my role as a sort of team manager. After a while the second team came with a job for me. So I very quickly had a lot of input, I continued learning and in the end I became head of the U23s. I did that job for nine years in all and was eventually named head of the whole Wolfsburg academy.
herthabsc.com: You’ve been at Hertha BSC since July 1st. What were your first impressions like?
Thiam: Really positive. I had the advantage of having lived in Berlin a long time and so I knew about Hertha and how things go down in the academy. I also knew the two youth leagues from Wolfsburg and I knew the potential of this club and this city. On top of that I was there for lots of matches and tournaments, and I’d seen the national youth teams too, so it was clear that there was a great pool of talent in the capital. For me, the structure of the club was new. It brings a lot of advantages. I had gotten to know the youth structures of 1. FC Köln and Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg are forced to bring in lots of youngsters from the outside due to the club’s geographic location. Now I’m working at a club where the lads can come to training and then go home again once they’re done.
[>]I’ve noticed how much heart and passion the kids put in to play for us. That motivates me to put the conditions in place so that they have the best opportunities possible.[<]
herthabsc.com: What steps have you taken since you arrived?
Thiam: If we want the lads in good shape out on the pitch, everything going on around them has to be perfect. I have taken the time to speak with loads of the players, getting to know them - especially those in the younger age groups. I’ve noticed how much heart and passion the kids put in to play for us. That motivates me to put the conditions in place so that they have the best opportunities possible. Meanwhile, we’ve also brought in some new ideas like building an identity and a playing philosophy that we want to use throughout the whole academy.
herthabsc.com: There are plenty of new faces working around the academy this season. How pleased have you been with the development of the youth department so far?
Thiam: I know all about what's going on inside, both as a player and as a club employee. I can put myself into the players’ shoes in lots of situations and I look for ways in which we can improve together with the lads. That’s the approach I have take. We’ve made some broad changes to how things work internally. We’ve introduced afternoon school classes to take some of the burden off the boys, and to help reduce the pressure on their parents. In my eyes, professional sport doesn’t work without sports psychology anymore. It’s a part of the care package. The amount of pressure in football is constantly rising and the boys have to be prepared for that. Just like how you have goalkeeping and fitness coaches, sometimes you need a coach for your head as well. So our new sports psychology department is really important. There are other fundamentals that we are adding to help the academy function as one and to build something sustainable.
herthabsc.com: There have been changes to the club’s infrastructure too. Could you explain that for us?
Thiam: We’ve created spaces where the players can be looked after and do their homework, but they also have space to relax and have a quiet moment. We have lots of youngsters who wake up at 5:30 to go to school, then they train twice a day and have to find time to do their homework as well. Then they only get home at 9PM! So when you have days like that the players desperately need half an hour where they can put their feet up and switch off. We have to offer them the chance to do so. Those are the little things that can make a big difference. We’re working on that.
[>]We are constantly adding things to help the academy function as one and to build something sustainable.[<]
herthabsc.com: In the international break just gone, we were the only academy that was represented in every single German youth team. On top of that, our U19s and U17s are top of their respective leagues. Where do you think our academy ranks among the best in Germany?
Thiam: We are definitely in the top third. Our U19 and U17 groups are, for me, among the top three in Germany. But I want to be careful with what I say – that;s just where we’re at right now. It shows that the teams are working well and that we have some superb players making up great teams. But what it’s really all about is keeping the boys hungry, to keep improving the quality that we have and to make it possible for these lads to reach the very top. That’s the exciting part. The results are nice, no doubt, but for me it’s even more important to see who shows up consistently and proves themselves as an option for the first-team. Right now we have a few who are doing that. Every player who steps up from the youth team is a win for the entire academy and for everyone who has worked with them. I want people to understand that. It’s always important for us to see players making that jump and we have to give them the pathway to do that. There are more opportunities in Berlin than elsewhere and it would be nice if we could build a team where the core of the side has grown up together in the academy.
herthabsc.com: As an academy, we are defined by the pathway that we have to the professional side. Are you in close contact with Fredi Bobic, Arne Friedrich and the first-team coaching staff?
Thiam: We have a united concept that we are building up. From the U14s to the U23s. Fredi saw in Frankfurt how difficult it can be for the players to make the step up when that level is missing (Eintracht Frankfurt have not had an U23 team since 2014) From the U19s up, we want to put the players in position to play professionally and the U23 side is a part of that. But the higher you go, the thinner the air gets. It isn't easy to make an immediate breakthrough in the U23s. Our youngsters have to show patience and trust that we know what we're doing, but we know how long it takes to get a foothold in men's football. It's our aim that the lads can stick with it for the long term.
It isn't enough to play professionally every now and then and to sit on the bench, you have to train with purpose and collect the minutes on the pitch. So that cooperation with the first team is hugely important in order to guarantee that the players who are currently on the edge of the squad don't get lost. The communication with Fredi und Arne is good and Hertha have done outstandingly well in recent years. We hope to have three or four more players establish themselves over the years to come. It requires constant development and improvement but also good guidance on our part.
[>]I hope that we take the next steps in the new year to help us maintain or even improve on our standing. We want to show players that there is no reason to leave Berlin![<]
herthabsc.com: We have lost two talents recently in Luca Netz and Lazar Samardžić. What will you do in future to ensure that our homegrown players stay at the club for the long term?
Thiam: In recent years there is barely a single club that has managed to have as many players establish themselves in the first team as us. No club can keep every player. That's football. There are clubs with a lot more financial power than us. We try to give the boys as much as possible so they feel comfortable and so they feel really at home at the club. But, being realistic, there is no club in Germany other than Bayern that will be able to keep all of its players in the long-term. even Dortmund and Leipzig lose their players. Football is a business.
Looking at Netz und Samardžić, maybe they didn't have enough patience to take the next step here with us. I'm following both and they are only squad players for their clubs. They have to prove themselves there too, just like they would've had to do here. I operate on the basis that you shouldn't hold on to people who want to leave. But I also know that we have the best conditions for educating young players and maybe we should be broadcasting that for the world to hear. If players see that we have a core of homegrown players in the first team, that will get in their heads and might give them pause for thought. Our boys are highly sought after and for me that is a compliment.
herthabsc.com: 2021 is nearly over. You’ve already touched on the last six months, so let’s look to the future. What does 2022 hold for the youngsters in blue and white?
Thiam: (thinks long and hard) Hm, that’s a tough one. First of all I want to say that I’m extremely grateful to have been sought out by Hertha. It wasn’t easy to leave Wolfsburg after 18 years. But I’m really pleased and thankful for how it all went through and how we’ve started working together. I know that I’ve brought a lot of input and so I’m going to give huge thanks to my coaches and colleagues who have all pulled in the same direction and supported me. We don’t have to hide from any academy – quite the opposite. Others are fishing in our pond. I hope we continue what we’ve started here and that we keep showing everybody what great work every single person within the academy is doing. You can see everything that we are building here. We are trying to improve the structure of the club so that the good work can continue regardless of the names and the personnel. We are among the leading academies in Germany and I hope that we take the next steps in the new year to help us maintain or even improve on that standing. We want to show players that there is no reason to leave Berlin!