Max Eberl says he has no fear of returning to Borussia Park. “If I come back to the Gladbach stadium at some point, nobody can take away what I did there and what we achieved together; I can look everyone in the eye there,” said the 49-year-old football manager in an interview with the world on Sunday. It was his first public statement since resigning as sporting director at Borussia Mönchengladbach at the end of January, when he tearfully declared in an emotional press conference that he was exhausted and could no longer work. A month ago, the Gladbach fan project accused him of having theatrically exaggerated his exhaustion in order to get out of the long-term contract with Borussia and be able to work at RB Leipzig in the future. Eberl will start his new job there on December 15th.
RB Leipzig’s last guest appearance in Mönchengladbach was a month ago. The next one won’t be until August 2023. Eberl will then return to Borussia Park at the earliest. That could be enough time for those waves to smooth out again, which the Gladbach fan project stirred up with its harsh open letter and now Eberl with his interview.
“It really disappoints me that people I’ve worked with almost every day for 23 years don’t believe me.”
Regarding the allegation of the fan project, Eberl says: “The letter from the Gladbach fan project hit me really hard. I understand the disappointment expressed in it that I’m going to RB, but I don’t understand that I’m being accused of lying and theatrical play – and that the club is like that does not immediately reject something.” Eberl also criticizes Borussia’s handling of his exhaustion at the end of last year: “I informed the club in September 2021 that I no longer had any strength and realized that I could no longer do my job as it deserved. (…) I said that I couldn’t take it anymore and that I wanted to get out by the end of the year, (…) but then I had to fight for four months to really get out. I had the impression that nobody really understood what it’s about for me – and above all: how I’m doing. It was said that I should take a few weeks off, take a little vacation.”
Eberl describes the fact that he had extended his contract in Gladbach in December 2020 until 2026 as a mistake: “I shouldn’t have extended it, I know that afterwards. I certainly let myself be persuaded a little and didn’t realize for myself that I was tired of working for Borussia despite the many beautiful and successful moments.”
There is no comment from the club. “We believe that it would be better for both sides if there was calm in this matter.”
Eberl accuses those responsible for Gladbach of ignoring his exhaustion last year and not officially rejecting the polemical allegations of the fan project recently in September: “At the club they know how I felt and how often I cried and said in conversations , that I can’t do any more. So it’s really disappointing that people I’ve worked with almost every day for 23 years don’t believe me.”
Eberl’s successor as Borussia sports director, Roland Virkus, publicly criticized parts of the fan letter and insulting fan banners at the home game against Leipzig in September. Beyond that, however, there has been no official comment from the club. Just like now to Eberl’s interview. You don’t want things to escalate and you don’t want to discuss individual allegations in detail. Board member Markus Aretz only wants to say this much: “We believe that it would be better for both sides if there was calm in this matter and that there is no back and forth of mutual accusations. Borussia has complied with Max’s wish to continue his work to quit and leave the club, and has recently accommodated him with his wish to work in Leipzig from December. We don’t want to say any more about the matter.”