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

But in the second, Magath divided the club: there were the faithful who trusted 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 transfer policy was based on trial and error, with more and more players being brought in, including ageing stars such as Ali Karimi and Angelos Charisteas at short notice. These desperate transfers inflated the squad, leading Clemens Tönnies to joke that Schalke now needed “a double-decker” for its line-up. In March 2011, the split was finalized.