Nocturnal WhatsApp dialogue with a frustrated talent, understanding for the brooding Dennis Dressel: Michael Köllner gives everything for a good atmosphere in the team.
Michael Köllner recently reported a curiosity, an unusual occurrence in professional football. Sunday evening after the friendly against Burghausen (4: 2): One of the young 1860 talents sends the coach a WhatsApp message. Content analogous: Why didn't I play? The normal coach reaction would have been: silence - or scolding. It is also absolutely unusual in normal working life for the apprentice to ask the boss to justify his actions. Köllner, however, stayed relaxed - and even took the trouble to answer the young professional. His message: If you train well, you play. If you train badly, you sit outside. The culmination of well-intentioned advice: You are in control of your fate!
For Köllner the subject was over. He received the desired answer from the instructor (“All right, trainer”). His feeling was that not only had he led a young footballer on the path of virtue, but he had also done something for the rest of the group. The Löwen coach knows: a dissatisfied professional can be enough to poison the climate in the cabin. Similar to the famous bad apple.
It's funny to imagine how ex-coach Werner Lorant would have dealt with such a player. But: Teaching tactics and technology is only one side of his job for Köllner. The rest of the time he sees himself challenged as a psychologist. Maybe also as a sociologist. Specialty: How do I keep a group composed of 23 individuals? 23 players means: 23 different sensitivities. The cohesion of the team, which Köllner considers essential, depends on them. He says: "My main job is to have the cabin under control."
The art for him is to create a positive atmosphere in the players' wing without physically entering the sanctuary of the professionals. The most talented footballers are ultimately useless if the structure does not fit, egoism spreads, disrespectful tone. Everything that leads to the fact that at some point the herd is dancing on the shepherd (whereupon the trainer is usually fired). It is well known that psychology is an important subject in training to become a football teacher. Köllner, for example, has made the following calculation over the years: "More management quality often goes hand in hand with less cohesion."
Köllner explains: “It is one of the most complicated tasks to keep the personal goals of the player and the goals of the team and the club in harmony.” His credo: “Be close at a distance.” For him it is a matter of course that he is on the road around the clock as a balancing moderator. Always true to the motto: “You have two ears, two eyes - but only one mouth.” In other words: “Hear more, see more, but speak less. Psychology plays a role in all facets. ”It is normal for him to listen to an insecure talent, as in the example described above. Or that he lends his ear to a professional who is plagued by thoughts of change. This is what happened with Dennis Dressel.
Köllner claims that he would even say "No" if the shareholders were to make additional money for loan players. One of the collateral damage would be that it would have to disappoint veteran professionals. And even worse: He himself could become implausible - because he showed player XY different perspectives in contract talks. He would gain a good man - but lose old players and his own reputation.
He experienced the negative side of being a coach at the end of his first season in 1860. Also due to the corona distance, the climate in the cabin had suffered so much that Köllner introduced a catalog of behavior. 18 contracts expired, new players with strong characters were added - the cornerstone for a successful season which, with a poorly rated team, almost brought relegation
. Uli waiter