Germans gives their thumbs up to Rehhagel but prefer to keep distance

Rehhagel won three Bundesliga titles in 30 years and his career included the improbable feat of taking promoted Kaiserslautern to the championship in 1997.

Three years later he was unemployed, before Greece came calling. He has taken them to the semi-finals of the European Championship with a style of management labelled “democratic dictatorship”.

Rehhagel, 65, is seen in Germany as a loose cannon, someone never fully in control of his emotions. He is mocked for his flowery language even though his admirers are enthralled by his blunt style and undeniable success.

“Rehhagel acts like he invented everything and knows everything better than everyone else,” Sven Goldmann, Sports Editor of Der Tagesspiegel newspaper, told Reuters.

“But there is nevertheless a lot of admiration for what he’s accomplished in Greece with such an antiquated style of play.”

After beating champions France on Friday, the 65-year-old went on German television and worked himself into a fast-talking lather. With his eyes popping, Rehhagel appeared on the brink of losing control.

It was a performance that reminded many why no German clubs wanted to hire him after he left Kaiserslautern in 2000.

“If the Greeks could understand everything he said, their relationship with him would probably be different,” said Goldmann.

Rehhagel’s on-air theatrics may also have reduced the chances of him succeeding Rudi Voeller, who quit as Germany coach after they were dumped out of Euro 2004’s first round.

Guenter Netzer, a former Germany international and now a television analyst, is impressed by Rehhagel’s success.

“It’s amazing what he’s done with Greece, pulling a team together from scratch even though he can’t speak the language,” Netzer said.

A call-in poll by Germany’s DSF sport television on Friday found 60 per cent believed Greece could win the tournament.

The son of a miner, Rehhagel grew up in the working class district of North Essen in the Ruhr industrial region and trained to be a house painter.

Journalists who knew him said he transformed himself from a favourite of the tabloid press early in his career into an opera fan who began quoting Friedrich Schiller.

Rehhagel is also remembered for comments such as: “Sometimes you lose, sometimes the others win.”

No one, however, knocks what he achieved in the Bundesliga. At Werder Bremen, Rehhagel won two league titles, two German Cups and the 1992 UEFA Cup.

That led Bayern Munich to hire him in 1995. He took Bayern to the UEFA Cup final but was fired before the final by Bayern boss Franz Beckenbauer, a humiliation that left lasting scars.

“He never got over that,” said the Bild reporter, adding that insinuations by the Munich media that Rehhagel could only win trophies with a provincial club still rankled. “It annoys him to this day. He’s got a serious complex about it.” Munich’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Rehhagel had become an honorary Greek for leading the national side to the semifinals. “He may still be a bit scorned in Germany, but he’s in the position to show Germans what a great man he is,” it wrote. (Reuters)