Schippers: "A powerful message for Borussia"

Chief executive Stephan Schippers and sporting director Max Eberl answered questions about their respective contract extensions at a virtual press conference on Monday. The pair also addressed other relevant topics surrounding the club.

Chief executive Stephan Schippers on…

… working with Max Eberl: I’ve known Max for almost 22 years now and I have the utmost respect for him both as a person and in his role as sporting director. The fact that he has made a firm commitment to Borussia Mönchengladbach is a powerful message for this club. It shows that there are long-term plans in place at Borussia. The two of us have visions and ambitions which we will work towards in future. I’m delighted that we will be taking on these challenges together and with the whole Borussia team in the coming years.

… the continuity at management level: Borussia Mönchengladbach embodies continuity. This can be seen in all of the club’s individual committees, as well as at the head offices. For example, almost all the club’s managing directors have been onboard for a very long time now. This is exactly what sets our work apart. Everyone here knows what’s going on around them – a quality which has helped us make progress in the past and one which I am sure we will continue to benefit from in the future. Our common objective here is to establish Borussia in the top half of the Bundesliga.  

… future work: We love reliability – that’s what defines our club and business culture. There’s a long path ahead of us and Max and I have professed that we wish to help the club move down this path. It’s extremely important not to slip into a habit of maintaining things – we need to keep moving down the path that we have started on. That means, on the one hand, overcoming short-term challenges, but equally, on the other hand, it means putting a clear focus on the future and driving the club forward as much as possible.

… the impact of the coronavirus pandemic: This is certainly the most challenging time I have experienced here at Borussia since 1999. But the pandemic is putting a strain everyone, so we can’t sit here and whine about it. We will get through this as well. At the moment, we cannot predict how long the pandemic will last, nor what other effects it might have. The situation is volatile and it’s one we have to overcome as a club. I hope that the vaccine will improve things – I hope the situation will start calming down as of the new year, I hope infection rates start dropping and I hope we can maybe start playing games with spectators again. We’re all longing for football to return to its former, pre-coronavirus, self.

Sporting director Max Eberl on…

… his reasons for signing a contract extension: It’s been an incredible journey for me so far in Gladbachand I have decided to continue down this path. Borussia have given me a wonderful opportunity, as a player, as academy director and as sporting director. I really enjoy the work here. For me, it’s more than a job, it’s my passion. After becoming sporting director in 2008, I understood very quickly what was possible here at this club. Today, we’re talking about how we got through the UEFA Champions League group stage and reached the knockout rounds. The club made it clear to me that they would like to continue with me in this position. In my talks with Rolf Königs, Stephan Schippers and the presidential board, it was implied very quickly that this club, which has made fantastic progress in recent years, has not yet reached the end of its path, and that there are visions and ideas of how to continue making progress. I thought long and hard about it, intentionally took a few weeks’ time to carefully consider it all. After that, however, it was clear to me that I wished to carry on. I would like to keep helping this club achieve great things. I am also pleased that Stephan Schippers is extending as well.

… his visions: I don’t just want to manage the club; I want to reach new levels with it. We are the mighty minnows, I stand by that, and we want to compete with the biggest teams. I don’t always need “more, better, quicker”, bit I would like to see the potential to make progress and see that there are ideas and philosophies. We have that. At the moment, we need to try and steer the Borussia ship through the rough waters of the coronavirus pandemic and then try to bring even more stability to this club and to keep rising. The idea of wanting to develop things rather than maintain them was at the forefront of all the talks I had. I am looking forward to the tasks at hand. I know they won’t be easy; we will continue to have our difficulties and obviously we will need to keep working hard. I’m eager to keep contributing to Borussia’s growth.   

… Borussia’s standing: Given our history and the work we’ve done in the last, twenty and particularly ten years, we are no small club. At this club, we have the chance to build something, create something and make progress. This club has achieved great things already, it has strong foundations and visions and ideas on how to move forward. I, and I believe Stephan Schippers is in the same boat, have extended my contract until 2026 because this is a time frame in which we have the chance to keep building. Long-term contract extensions show that Borussia Mönchengladbach are among the biggest clubs in Germany.  

[Translate to English:] Geschäftsführer Stephan Schippers
[Translate to English:] Sportdirektor Max Eberl

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