Kicker article: FEAR, THREATS, REPROACHES Theater at the title defender. The President feels fooled, the Coach sees the moment to be “become a pig”. The team has to face consequences and also Sammer is in the criticism. Smart heads are using their brains. About the way the new team bus (500.000 Euro) has to be painted. Flashes are seen in the ceiling of the locker room. Carefully styled soccer players are portrayed for the new catalogue of the equipment producer goool.de. Almost you could think to be in an oasis of calm. But the air is thin in Dortmund. “It is five to twelve”, says Christian Wörns. Before Dortmund’s dream world is entirely shattered after the deep in the league (16 pts behind Bayern Munich), President and Coach try to turn the situation around. It is about the essential things. Money, jobs. If Dortmund misses the Champions League, then the club, who had 65 M Euro personnel costs in 2001/02, has to lower the costs. Significantly. What happens now “has decisive influence” on the personnel plans, confesses Sammer. To be clear: who now doesn’t play on his level, has no future as the current champion. Head-Borussian Dr. Gerd Niebaum created this scenario and told it to the players, “for which the pressure component is an essential element” in a drastic way. Shaking statements in front of players and media were often heard in the current season; they were in vain as the words of the Coach. The eternal President (since 1986) is endangered to be worn out with such speeches as last Tuesday – as the creating of a threat-scenario is not enough for effective crisis-management. Niebaum has to dig deeper to find the core of the current crisis. Sammer’s detected “character weakness” of his team does not deliver more than one part of an explanation for the bad development, which was covered by the respectable Champions League appearances. Also the person of the Coach is getting into the criticism. Slightly, but recognisable. Questions are asked about Sammer’s system, the tactical contents of the daily work, why Dortmund is playing a lifeless minimum-soccer that doesn’t fit to the team. These questions neither question the person or the job of the Coach, but Sammer is seeing them critical. Self-critical. He does not only demand, but is willing to question himself. “I am not the one who thinks that everything I do is right”, stresses Sammer. Three years ago they made him head coach, he would like to stay in office much longer. “Matthias is a very good Coach”, emphasises Niebaum, “he will solve the current situation.” For that some things have to be cleared that were criticised by Jens Lehmann. The carelessness of some younger colleagues and their orientation to the fun society Bundesliga. “The younger ones are thinking different than the older ones”, says Lehmann, “some things happening today wouldn’t have been possible in the past.” He just criticises himself that he didn’t point out the problem earlier. Sammer denies such a generation conflict. He is speaking about a “collective problem”. “Even if it is true that the younger players don’t fulfil their duties, then I got do a reproach to the older ones that they permitted it.” The big trouble in Dortmund has many aspects. Player, who just do their job according to the duty, but “never were really bad and therefore were never really criticised”, as Wörns recognises. The leadership of the club with GM Michael Meier, who wastes time and energy with verbal arguments with Bayern Munich, although the own house is under fire. The fear of a finance chaos, a season without Champions League. Then Borussia Dortmund would have a real problem. On Saturday Hamburg is waiting. A big game. A character test for Dortmund’s stars. “Everyone who can only nearly think straight forward, knows about the significance of this game”, says Wörns. His pleading: “We may not lose the nerves now.”