In an interview with RevierSport, Patrick Fabian reviews his first 100 days as sporting director at VfL Bochum.

Patrick Fabian has been managing director of sport at VfL Bochum for 100 days. Time for a first interim summary. The 35-year-old spoke to RevierSport about the turbulent start, current tasks and long-term challenges.

Patrick Fabian on…

..his new area of responsibility

I immediately got to experience the dynamics and intensity of this position in the first 100 days. After the last game and also the annual general meeting, there was finally a bit of time to deal with strategic and structural things. Before that, everything was determined by the operative day-to-day business.

The points situation of the licensed team at the beginning and the change of coach – that took up a lot of energy and time. The area of the sports director is often reduced to the professional team, but the issues surrounding the entire club are much more extensive and complex.

..his implementations so far

I am a friend of always approaching things in a solution-oriented way and then also getting into implementation quickly. This is the only way to identify weaknesses afterwards and readjust them. Maybe the theory is even completely discarded in practice. But then at least you know. Part of this is to have defined the management of the youth development centre, to have set the course for the next few years. Two months ago, we entered into an exchange: What do we want? Where do we want to go? How do we manage to close the gap of the missing second team?

In today’s football constellation, our path must also lead us through our own young players. We have had good experiences with home-grown players like Armel Bella Kotchap and Maxim Leitsch, who not only played for us but also ended up bringing in revenue. Not to mention that such guys are always identity-builders. The fans want to see such players here and can identify with them.

..his current duties

At the moment, the professionals are certainly about keeping an eye on the squad and evaluating individual positions. In football, things can move very quickly in all directions, as we have currently seen with the example of Michael Esser. But letting him go was not an option for us. And then, of course, there are also topics outside of football.

Keyword “winter transfer window”, a very special topic. As a rule, all players are under contract and you have to find a good constellation to bring a player here. At the same time, however, we don’t want to lapse into actionism and make a transfer as mere proof of activity. That can be counterproductive in the end, because the player must also be willing, for example, to take on the relegation battle with VfL.

..his biggest long-term challenge

We always have to expect that the squad changes significantly from season to season. There, you have to manage to be prepared for this situation early on without losing a lot of quality. It’s not easy because nowadays many clubs are targeting the same markets, especially in terms of talent.

We have a squad with a high average age, and in the long term we have to rejuvenate the squad – it’s just not biologically possible otherwise. At the same time, we have to create structures on the sporting side, with more manpower, which will enable us to act quickly and more effectively.

.. on his most important new insight

The first row is high-intensity. You are permanently under a constant current and have to force yourself to take five minutes off at one point or another, because issues keep coming up that you have to deal with and require decisions. These don’t have to be big decisions, but they are still decisions.

I’ve noticed that in the last few years, but when you’re involved yourself, it’s a bit different. That’s why I think it’s important to distribute the tasks. Not because I want to create more freedom for myself, but because I think it makes things more effective.