Hecking off to Westphalian “fun fair” after first Bochum match

After the on-pitch post-match interviews were conducted on Saturday afternoon, it was time for newly appointed VfL Bochum trainer Dieter Hecking to settle in for his first official post-match press conference since taking the reins at the last-placed Bundesliga club earlier this week. The 60-year-old had a rather interesting anecdote to share following the surprise 1-1 draw.

Hecking clearly wished to get the locker room on board, doing his utmost to purge the team of the more serous nature prevailing under former head-coach Peter Zeidler, who famously banned beer in the cabin. In stark contrast to this, Hecking preferred to motivate the squad by telling them he wanted to relax with some beer at a kitschy locale. 

“I said ‘perhaps we can win against Leverkusen’ because they [the team] should get used to hearing the word ‘winning’ again,” Hecking said at the presser, “Because it’s hard when you’re so beat down. I think the biggest motivating factor related to my personal life.” 

“I said to them, ‘listen up’,” Hecking continued, “If you play a good game you’ll get two days off. I want to go to the Soester [a Westphalian city] fair tonight. I want to go home and see my sisters.”

“They took it as a joke,” Hecking went on, “And we turned it into an immediate riff. They knew they would get two days free so that the old man could go to the fair and have a drink.” 

“That’s not always how it’s going to be,” Hecking concluded, “That was a bit silly from me, but we had to find some way of riling them up in a very short period of time. The team knows that I’m committed to this job.”