Football news - 'A PR disaster for Hertha' - Eurosport Germany's view on Klinsmann's departure

Nobody in the media business had a clue about this, and it also came out of nowhere for the club too. Klinsmann announced his decision via Facebook and Hertha didn't react until an hour later with an official statement that they were "very surprised" and that there were no hints that this would happen.

BILD and Sky are now saying that there was friction between club officials Michael Preetz (the manager) and Holger Gegenbauer (president) and Klinsmann. Their reports say that Klinsmann wanted more power and more money and assurance that he would stay coach after the summer, but the officials wanted to look how things are going in the second half of the season - because in nine Bundesliga games Hertha only got twelve points under Klinsmann, and they were particularly bad last Saturday in Mainz where they lost 3-1.

A source in Berlin we talked to also confirmed that there were two parties in Berlin: Klinsmann and investor Lars Windhorst on the one side - visionaries who wanted to build a "big city club" which should compete with FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund - and Preetz and Gegenbauer on the other, who have a long history in the club, know how things are going in the business, and were slowing the big plans down a little bit.

The weird thing is, that Klinsmann confirmed that we will stay a member of the board after his resignation as coach. I'm not sure how this should work with all the internal problems.

All in all, it was a PR disaster for Hertha, and Klinsmann really did not do the club or himself any favour by announcing this via Facebook - but he is known as a straight guy who is known for backing off if something is not going the way he wants to.

I think in Germany it will become really difficult for him to become coach anymore, but I'm not sure if he even wants to. In my opinion, he is not that good of a coach to demand so much money and there is no club (except BVB and Bayern who definitely won't be interested) who will pay him what he wants and give him that kind of power. In other countries? Difficult to say.