Ex-Lion hero Daniel Bierofka in an interview
By Alexander Augustine
He was a German champion as a player with VfB Stuttgart, saved the Munich Lions as a coach and is now developing the professionals of the future as a U17 coach in Unterhaching: Daniel Bierofka (43). At the training camp in Riedlhütte (Freyung-Grafenau district), he spoke about his commitment, his visions and his past.
Mr. Bierofka, you have been the U17 coach at Spvgg Unterhaching for a good month now. What was the first impression?
Bierofka: It’s a lot of fun working with the guys. Of course, but I had to break the ice first, I’m not a blank slate. The guys google and then go in with a certain respect. It took about two weeks for that to settle in. You can now see that we have made good progress week after week. We recently beat RB Leipzig 2-1 and won a tournament with Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe. We are on the right track.
Her involvement as a youth coach in Haching came as a surprise to many. You were a professional coach at 1860 and Wacker Innsbruck, which looks like a step backwards to the outside world.
Bierofka: For me it was exactly the right step because it was a family decision. There aren’t that many opportunities to work as a football coach in Munich. I played in Haching myself when I was young. I know how important young talent is at Spvgg. My relationship with Manni Schwabl (President, editor’s note) is very good, we are friends. He asked me if I could imagine that. In consultation with my family, I then decided that I would definitely stay in Unterhaching for the three years.
When you introduced yourself, Manfred Schwabl said that you stand for values that are also very important at Spvgg. Which are they?
Bierofka: I think I’m a very normal, down to earth guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously. For me, the focus is on the big picture, that you give everything for a club and the development of the boys and don’t constantly put your ego in front. That’s how Unterhaching ticks and that’s how I tick as a person. I’m also very ambitious, Manni is very ambitious. So it fits together quite well.
“It was a purely family decision”
Your previous coaching positions were characterized by unrest in the club environment. Is your involvement in Haching also to be seen as a conscious break: Would you rather develop in peace than wear yourself down on the front line?
Bierofka: That has nothing to do with it. I can deal very well with the experiences I have had. It was a purely family decision. I could have gone to Duisburg or Halle and had two more offers on the table. But after the year and a half in Innsbruck (the club had to file for bankruptcy in the summer after months of quarrels, editor’s note) I noticed that something stuck with the family. that’s why other things were more important to me now. I want to be on the pitch with guys – and that’s a lot of fun for me, although of course it’s a lot of work.
As a youth coach, you are not only a trainer, you are probably also in demand on an interpersonal level.
Bierofka: It is important that you have a good relationship with the players. I was already a U16 coach for six months when I was sixty and I gained a bit of experience there. Empathy is very important, the boys are going through puberty and their personalities are developing. Therefore, they need to know that they can come to you at any time and that you take their problems seriously.
Physically, U17 players are also at very different stages of development. One is perhaps already fully grown, the other still has a boost ahead of him. How difficult is it to make the right predictions about the future of football?
Bierofka: It’s a general thing. I would never put a player on the back burner just because he’s not physically ready – especially when I see that he has potential and has things that others don’t have. So it’s important to help the boy. I’ve seen a lot of young players who have been written off three or four times and then made the breakthrough. Others were hyped early on and didn’t make it.
With identification instead of money to success
In Munich there is a three-way battle for supremacy in youth football between Haching, Sixty and Bayern. Many experts believe that Spvgg is on the right track. How would you describe these?
Bierofka: You can see that in my team: they have basically been playing together like this for a number of years, and there isn’t a high turnover. I’ve seen it with Sixty and Bayern, that teams are quickly thrown together. There it is to develop a structure and a difficult identification. Some of the players on my team have been here since they were youngsters. This is the Hachinger way.
No one is attracted by big money either.
Bierofka: We don’t have that anyway. (laughs)
They repeatedly criticize the fact that there is already a fight for young people with very high transfer fees and petty cash.
Bierofka: I see that very critically. You put the guys under a lot of artificial pressure. They know that they have cost a certain amount of money and that something is expected of them. You have to perform immediately and thereby lose a piece of freedom. In Haching the boys can develop more calmly because we have a good balance. On the one hand we challenge them, of course, we also transfer the fun of football. If everyone walks around with a backpack, it won’t work.
The regional league men of the Spvgg started the season well and are traded as championship favorites. How important is the success of the professionals for the youth teams?
Bierofka: Very important. It would be important if they managed to get promoted today. Unfortunately, you would have to go the route of relegation. But that would be extremely important for the NLZ. When you send guys up to the first team, they are tested again at a completely different level. There is a huge difference between the regional league and the 3rd league. And of course it looks completely different on the outside, too.
How intensive is the exchange with head coach Sandro Wagner?
Bierofka: We don’t speak every day, but when we meet, we talk at length. Sandro is a very communicative guy, we get along very well. I can give him the best possible support by training the boys well and making them resilient. The distance is so short in Haching, as can be seen from the example of Maurice Krattenmacher (16 years old, editor’s note). He was still playing U17 a few weeks ago and came on as a substitute against Heimstetten in the regional league. This shows how fast it can go. That’s why I have to get my players up to the strain of men’s football as quickly as possible.
Grueling time at 1860: “The sword of Damocles hung over us”
Keyword strain: It was consistently high for you at your highest coaching stations. You kept sixty as an interim coach in 2016 in the 2nd Bundesliga, a year later you took over the TSV as head coach after the double relegation. It was similarly turbulent in Innsbruck. Have you made these experiences more relaxed?
Bierofka: I’ve also experienced a lot as a player and you grow with every experience – as a coach and as a personality. My first brutal experience was when I took over the team from Benno Möhlmann four games before the end of the season in the second division. I knew I had to win three out of four games for us to stay in.
What succeeded.
Bierofka: The second extreme experience was the double relegation from the 2nd to the 4th league, when nobody knew how and if things would continue at all. In Innsbruck it was an extreme experience in that we had three investors within a year and… (shrugs) none of them had (laughs).
How do you look back on your time at sixty in general? After your immediate return, there was a real personality cult surrounding you. The fans chanted “We wouldn’t be here without Biero”. Has that ever become a burden for you?
Bierofka: I have known that I am a temporary person at the club who wants to help him. There was no one there anymore. Who should have done it? Then I said: I’ll take responsibility. Of course it was a lot of pressure in the first year. The sword of Damocles hung over us. We didn’t know what it would be like if we didn’t get promoted again in the first year. Are there still so many people coming to the stadium? That was extreme pressure. In the second year, I did my soccer teacher parallel to playing in the 3rd league, and I was hardly there. Of course you know at some point that you’re getting tired. But in the end other things were the reason why I threw it down.
What happened in autumn 2019?
Bierofka: We don’t need to talk about that anymore today, that was almost three years ago and in the past. I can live with that.
After that, how long did it take you to tick off chapter 1860 for yourself?
Bierofka: It must have taken three to four months to process that. The moment I started at Innsbruck, the chapter was closed for me.
And now you can pursue the lions as a sympathizer?
Bierofka: I can clearly separate that for myself. One is the acting people, the other is the association in which I have been actively involved for 15 years. If I include my father’s time (Willi Bierofka was a player and coach at 1860, editor’s note), it was probably 25 years that we were active as players and coaches at this club. Sometimes the Bierofka family will always be rooting for us.
What do you think the lions can do this season? After two 4th places, they are considered one of the top favorites for promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga.
Bierofka: If they can stabilize the defence, I have a lot of confidence in them. I hope they can avoid relegation and go straight up. With the signings and the budget they now have, the big hit is in.
For you it starts with the U17s of Spvgg Unterhaching on August 14th against Hoffenheim in the B-Junior-Bundesliga Süd. Last year, Spvgg was a strong second. What’s up this year?
Bierofka: The good thing is that people can assess that realistically. It was an extremely good vintage, we are trying to continue on this path. Normally it’s completely delusional to talk about second place. If the other clubs like Bayern, Stuttgart or Hoffenheim do a lot of things right, you hardly have the opportunity to slide in up front. But I believe my team is capable of one or two surprises.