Borussia Dortmund’s still club director, Hans-Joachim Watzke, sees improvement within the sporty leadership of the troubled Bundesliga club: “Only” is the question: “Do the three harmonize? And is that still in need of optimization? ”Watzke said at a performance in Hamburg about the cooperation between sports manager Lars Ricken, sports director Sebastian Kehl and Sven Mislintat (technical director). Watzke sees things relaxed: “They only do it together for half a year,” emphasized the 65-year-old, and in football there is “always pronounced ego” who tried to “test boundaries”.
Ricken’s task is now to ensure that “everyone marches in the same direction. And if you then have the feeling that someone doesn’t do it in the medium term, you have to change anything on the concept. But that is no longer my topic ”. Watzke, who was now giving up sports management to Ricken, emphasized that he had nothing to say in the sporting field. He was not involved in the dismissal of coach Nuri Sahin and the commitment of successor Niko Kovac. “I told him (Ricken): You make the decision what happens under you in the sporting area. I am still responsible for the rest, but you are doing sports now – and I will stay that way. “