Coach of 1. FC Cologne
“Pee on your leg at every opportunity”: Steffen Baumgart deals against TV expert Hamann
“Absolute cheek”: Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart defends his guild from unobjective criticism from TV experts
© Rolf Vennenbernd / DPA
Like Thomas Tuchel before him, Steffen Baumgart criticized the TV expert Dietmar Hamann. His statements about Union Berlin and the fired coach Urs Fischer were an “absolute impudence”.
The coach of 1. FC Köln, Steffen Baumgart, dealt heavily against TV expert Dietmar Hamann. Weeks ago, he criticized Union Berlin for sticking with coach Urs Fischer despite continued lack of success. Union has now separated from Fischer. Nevertheless, what Hamann had to say about the case was absolutely inappropriate for Baumgart, as he said ““Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” said in an interview: “If Didi Hamann said two weeks ago that it was irresponsible for Union Berlin to stick with this coach, then I think that is an absolute impudence. Why is he allowed to make such a judgment?” Baumgart said that even he himself didn’t dare to evaluate the separation, although he had “more insight into Union Berlin” than many people assume.
Baumgart is the second coach after Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel to publicly condemn Hamann’s comments. “I have the feeling that some critics are on a one-way street. We have to accept that people who are really far away from our work are constantly pissing on us,” said Baumgart. “People who have their own problems but then stand up in public and say: We know what’s going on. With every protagonist, with every club.”
Steffen Baumgart: They are not lightning rods for the nation
During his team’s game against Borussia Dortmund, Tuchel commented with biting irony on Dietmar Hamann and Lothar Matthäus, who had previously repeatedly criticized Tuchel and the record champions: “If the only job of an expert is to tell everyone at every opportunity “Peeing on his leg, then he doesn’t have to be surprised if at some point someone says: Look out, you’re just not important enough to me,” said Baumgart.
The Cologne coach always stood in front of his colleagues and asked for understanding when they reacted thinly to criticism. “The difference is that the coach has a responsibility and the expert sits on a comfortable couch and the whole nation listens to him. But we coaches are not the nation’s lightning rods.” “Exactly the same thing as Thomas Tuchel could happen to him,” said the FC coach.
With material from DPA