Resolution? Ha!

By: Chris | May 2nd, 2008

We should know by the end of this ~~week~~ ~~month~~ ~~season~~ ~~year~~ decade who the new manager is. There really isn’t anything else left to write about this season.

Last week in this space, I speculated that the club’s directors hadn’t talked to Ex-Spurs boss Martin Jol about the post in a while. Turns out I am pretty prescient. Jol has been contacted about the job and he is the club’s second choice after Gerrard Houllier. Houllier, whose contract as Technical Director of the French Football Federation expired 30 April, continues to be the leading candidate for the post and contract negotiations are reportedly on-going. Here’s the rub: Should contract talks with Houllier fall through, HSV are screwed. Why? Because Martin Jol is negotiating with Twente (Enschede) of the Eredivisie about their open position and is reportedly quite close to a deal. Twente, you know, the job that Fred Rutten just left. . . B-T-W, Rutten recently revealed he was set to take the HSV job, but an ongoing disagreement between Dietmar Beiersdorfer (sporting director–wanted Rutten) and Bernd Hoffman (managing director–wanted would-be-Dortmund/current-Mainz trainer Jurgen Klopp) and the subsequent confusion and delay prompted him to accept the Scalke job.

I find it pretty remarkable that of the 3 clubs in the Bundesliga set to hire new trainers (Bayern, Schalke, Hamburg), 2 had the deal done-and-dusted within a matter of days, and in Schalke’s case, in 5 days. So now we sit and wait to see if Houllier can convince his wife that Paris isn’t all that grand and that life really is better in Hamburg. Let me know how that works out. . . Why worry, right? This guy and this guy are available . . .

Oh, and HSV travel to Rostock to take on Hansa. Hamburg downed Hansa 2:0 in November. Vincent Kompany is out with a thigh injury. Paolo Guerrero is nursing a calf-injury but looks to play. David Jarolim returns from suspension and will be in the midfield. This will allow Guy Dimmel to return to his right back position and let Jerome Boateng replace the ever-worthless Timothee Atouba. I can’t WAIT until they get rid of his sorry ass.

I am not going to give a prediction here, as lately when I do so, HSV do the exact opposite. Let’s say this in closing: If we can’t go out and pound a helpless patsy like Hansa, we don’t deserve to be in European competition. Period.