Klaus-Michael Kühne is campaigning for Felix Magath to make a comeback at Hamburger SV. The 70-year-old can see himself in a number of different roles.

Investor Klaus-Michael Kühne has a clear idea of who can lead Hamburger SV back into the Bundesliga: Felix Magath. “If it were up to me, I would hire Mr. Magath immediately as a trainer or sports director,” Kühne said in a recent interview with Sky.

Kühne sharply criticized the HSV management. “Felix Magath has been my preferred candidate for years, but the HSV management could not be persuaded. Unfortunately, I am just an uninfluential fan who has to watch as HSV is incapacitated in every respect,” said the 86-year-old, who owns 15.21 percent of the shares in HSV Fußball AG. After the separation from coach Tim Walter, the previous assistant coach Merlin Polzin will initially take charge of HSV in the game at Hansa Rostock on Saturday (1 p.m./Sky). Steffen Baumgart and Raphael Wicky are being considered as candidates for the coaching position.

Magath had played for HSV and, after ending his professional career, had worked as a manager, assistant coach and coach for the Hamburg team. The now 70-year-old won the championship as a trainer with VfL Wolfsburg in 2009 and previously with FC Bayern Munich in 2005 and 2006. Turbulent years at Schalke 04 Magath was also once active at FC Schalke 04. In 2010, he became trainer and manager of the Royal Blues. The new strong man was supposed to fulfill the eternal longing for the championship title. Finishing as runners-up in his first season reinforced the plan.

But in the second, Magath divided the club: there were the faithful who continued to trust him even as the team approached the relegation zone, and there were the critics who had had enough of his quest for power and his methods. The second group included many employees at the office – and the team council, which successfully made itself heard by the supervisory board chairman Clemens Tönnies. Magath’s purchasing policy followed the principle of trial and error, with more and more players being acquired, including aging stars such as Ali Karimi and Angelos Charisteas at short notice. Desperate transfers that inflated the squad – leading Clemens Tönnies to joke that Schalke now needed “a kink bus” for its line-up. In March 2011, the split was finalized.