Europe is in football fever. All the fans have their minds set on Austria and Switzerland where the 2008 European Championships get underway on Saturday. At the Werder administration centre, preparations for next season are already well under way.
Europe is in football fever. All the fans have their minds set on Austria and Switzerland where the 2008 European Championships get underway on Saturday. At the Werder administration centre, preparations for next season are already well under way.
Europe is in football fever. All the fans have their minds set on Austria and Switzerland where the 2008 European Championships get underway on Saturday. At the Werder administration centre, preparations for next season are already well under way. General manager Klaus Allofs took some time out to speak to werder.de about the current stand of things with the Green-Whites.
werder.de: Two days before the start of the European Championships and all of Germany is in football fever, but at Werder Bremen, all the activities are already focused on the new Bundesliga season. How much preparation stress is there for you?
Klaus Allofs: “The work is in full flow. Our summer schedule is almost complete now. The training camps have been planned in detail. By July the team should be well able to prepare optimally for the new season. We will maybe organise another friendly game or two.”
And who will be involved in that? How are things going on the transfer market?
Klaus Allofs: “There is still an amount to be done there. Kevin Schindler and Kevin Artmann could still be released on loan deals. We’ve already taken that step with John Mosquera. We still have quite a few improvements to our squad on the agenda.”
There are proposals for new players being made in the press on an almost daily basis. Are you amused by some of the speculation?
Klaus Allofs: “Year in, year out – it’s always the same. The summer break allows a lot of time for fantasy.”
Can you inform us of some of the details of your plans?
Klaus Allofs: “Until deals are completed we like to play our cards close to our chest. It’s proving consistently more difficult to find players who can strengthen a team playing at our level who are affordable. With that in mind, we are very sensitive about such information.”
How realistic is the danger that some of Werder’s young strikers could suddenly find themselves on the wish-lists of top European clubs after Euro 2008?
Klaus Allofs: “That’s the wrong way to think. I hope that every one of our players is noticed and does fantastically at the tournament. That will not harm Werder. They all have contracts with us and we have no intention of letting any of them go.”
