Heidel speaks on Klopp's RB move: "'Football Romanticism' ended a long time ago."

As a friend and neighbor of German trainer Jürgen Klopp, FSV Mainz 05 sporting manager Christian Heidel always receives advance news when it comes to popular German trainer Jürgen Klopp's future career plans. In an interview conducted with Kicker Magazine's Michael Ebert this week, Heidel accordingly admitted that he knew of the news that rocked the German footballing world this week.

"We've been spending a lot of time together, so I knew already," Heidel told Ebert in an interview published in Kicker's Thursday print edition, "He didn't want to return to the sidelines, but also wanted to remain in football. Now he has an opportunity to combine both things. He'll travel, scout, develop, and learn. Many things, he said, made it a perfect fit for him." 

Regarding the beating that Klopp took in the German press (including from Kicker) this week, Heidel emphasized that he - as the boss of a traditional club - remained critical of the RB system in many respects. The 61-year-old nevertheless felt it necessary to also concede that no amount of grousing would change RB's place in the current global footballing landscape. 

"Kloppo is aware of the talk, but, as himself, still goes against the grain," Heidel said, "RB is part of the football business. You don't necessarily have to like it. I'm certainly one of the critics of RB, but we're not going to turn back the clock. Someone also wrote to me: 'Football Romanticism'. But, that actually ended a long-time ago.”

Heidel also noted that several key Mainz figures (Marco Rose and Sandro Schwarz) have found jobs in the RB system on the basis of the fact that "RB pay careful attention to the quality of their footballing personnel". Moreover, Mainz also considered head-coach Bo Svensson's development in the RB system to be so effective that they once paid FC Liefering a sizable sum to acquire him back from an RB club.