Bankruptcy series
Hamburger SV separates from coach Tim Walter
It was not possible to stabilize HSV’s defense: Coach Tim Walter is history at HSV
© Daniel Bockwoldt / DPA
That was it for Tim Walter at HSV. The second division team with permanently unfulfilled promotion ambitions has separated from its coach. This was initially reported by the TV channel Sky and has now been confirmed by the club.
Hamburger SV has left coach after a good two and a half years Tim Walter separated. The third-placed team in the 2nd Bundesliga announced this on Monday. The sports channel Sky first reported on the personnel.
The six-time German champions have already failed five times in their attempt to finally get promoted back to the first league. After the sporting misdevelopment of the past few months, the HSV management sees the danger of missing their big goal this season too. This was 48-year-old Walter’s downfall.
Tim Walter is already on the brink before Christmas
“After the disappointing home defeat against Hannover 96, we carried out a situation analysis and came to the decision that we had to make a change in order not to jeopardize our goals for the season,” said HSV board member Jonas Boldt. “Our fluctuations in performance in recent games have been too great and we lack full conviction that we will be able to achieve the necessary balance and stability in our game in this constellation over the next few weeks.”
Franz Beckenbauer
The last emperor: a look back at his life in pictures
Before Christmas, Walter was already on the brink and particularly criticized on the supervisory board. Then he received another clear order from sports director Jonas Boldt and sports director Claus Costa to stabilize his team. However, eight goals conceded in the first two home games of the new year against Karlsruher SC (3:4) and Hannover 96 (3:4) showed that the coach couldn’t manage it.
Walter moved to HSV in the summer of 2021. In the past 40 years, there have only been three coaches with a longer tenure in the ejection seat in Hamburg: Ernst Happel (1981-1987), Benno Möhlmann (1992-1995) and Frank Pagelsdorf (1997-2001).
The two sides of Tim Walter
Walter’s work and his self-confident demeanor in Hamburg were viewed ambivalently from day one. On the one hand, he failed in relegation twice with HSV: in 2022 against Hertha BSC, in 2023 against VfB Stuttgart. The lack of stability in his team, the risky style of play, the susceptibility to mistakes in defense: the former FC Bayern Munich youth coach was unable to get all of these problems under control in his third season.
On the other hand, Walter and sports director Jonas Boldt created a sense of togetherness and continuity at HSV that this chronically restless club had not experienced for years. “Tim and his boys lived our HSV, fully identified with the task and the club and played a key role in shaping the path we took,” said Boldt. A majority of the players supported Walter’s offensive game idea until the end. Even after the second relegation loss this summer, it only took a few minutes for Boldt to publicly confirm the coach.
This trust has now been used up. Although the squad was strengthened again in the sixth year of the second division and is nominally significantly better than that of all promotion competitors, HSV lost all sovereignty. After a successful start to the season, there were defeats against small clubs (1:2 in Osnabrück), against well-known opponents (3:4 against Hannover) and in the DFB Cup (round of 16 exit at Hertha BSC).
“I would have liked to have contributed further to achieving our season goal together,” said Walter himself. “I would like to thank HSV, the office and the extraordinary fans for more than two and a half years of great cooperation.”
Note: This article has been updated to include additional information.