Thomas Doll: I want to work!

– How was Balatonfüred?
– Wonderful! – replied Thomas Doll in one of the elegant restaurants in Buda during a joint lunch. – My wife and I moved down on the first day of summer and came back to Budapest in mid-September. She spent her whole childhood in the Füred area, and I also love Lake Balaton.

– Were you not bored on the beach?
– I took my bike and my motorbike with me. I started the days in Lake Balaton – no matter what the weather was like, whether it was shining or raining. I'm not the best swimmer, but I spent 15 minutes in the water every day because it's very good for blood circulation. I'm fifty-five years old after all... But I also found a nice gym. I like to start my day with exercising; I feel a lot better afterward.

– Did you do a lot of sports even as a kid?
– Many don't know, but I started with judo. I'd done it for a long time. I was enthusiastic even when my body most resembled a thin tree branch. I didn't give up; my footwork was dynamic. I tried athletics, and at the age of nine, I had to make a decision: by then, I cared about nothing but football...

DINO ZOFF CLUTCHED HIS HEAD OFF BECAUSE OF THE GOLF INJURY

– What about golf? What happened exactly?
– Well, that's a nice story... I was a player for Lazio, and we traveled to Austria with the team for training camp. Head coach Dino Zoff allowed us to have a free afternoon, so some of us - Karl-Heinz Riedle, Paul Gascoigne, and Beppe Signori - went out for coffee in the area. We saw a beautiful golf course next door, and Karl and Paul had played before, so they decided to hit some balls. That was the first time I played, and I strained my side so hard I couldn't train for two weeks. You can imagine that Dino Zoff told me off.

– Do you like reminiscing over the past? Do you have a lot of good stories like this?
– I have a ton. I'm friends with my old teammates almost without exception. Last year, we met the old German national team in Italy. Even Franz Beckenbauer, then seventy-five years old, came, Jürgen Klinsmann flew there from the United States. Perhaps one or two old fellow players were missing. We spent three days together. On the second morning, some of us went to the beach, took a ball with us, and played piggy in the middle. We noticed that one of the Italian dads knew our names by memory and showed his son who is who. We told him to send the little boy there to play with us. He was as happy as a sandboy.

NO QUESTION THAT FERENCVÁROS WILL WIN THE LEAGUE

– Do you keep in touch with your old Fradi players?
– With most of them, yes. Cristian Ramírez called me the other day, who transferred to Krasnodar from Fradi. He is a nice guy. Before we brought him to Hungary, he wasn't needed in Germany – he was loaned from one club to another. I was happy that we could sign him; I knew there was a lot in him. Ferencváros could sell him for good money. Here is the biggest difference between the current and the old Fradi.

– You mean in player policy?
– In my day, we sold the best, most valuable footballers, now they buy new, even better players for a million euros or two. I was happy with András Radó, Roland Varga or Daniel Böde. I don't think I can hurt them, but the international level is different... Now there are strong Ukrainian, Albanian, Moroccan, Tunisian, and who knows what national team footballers the team is made up of. That's what international success requires!

– What's your relationship with the Ferencváros leaders?
– Good! I'm being honest about that. I've been the team's head coach for almost five years, which is a long time in a coach's life. We call each other on birthdays and special occasions. The end of the story didn't go as we would've liked it; the meeting against Maccabi was the end of my international career. That strange goal we conceded is still before my eyes... as Gergő Lovrencsics spins looking up in the air and can't find the ball. It was annoying.

– Will Fradi win the league again?
–There's no question about that, but rather by how many points.

– Don't Fehérvár or any other rivals stand a chance?
– Ferencváros is such a step forward over the others that it is impossible to make it up. Peter Stöger could safely put out two starting teams that would easily win the Hungarian league.

HE WAS CONTACTED IN VAIN FROM MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD

– When was the last time you went home to Germany?
–A few weeks ago. A friend of mine had a birthday party. Up the Baltic coast, not far from Hamburg, he has a house in Timmendorfer Strand. It's just a fabulous place. It was a great party, the former president of Hamburg was also there, and we talked for hours about the good old days. If the night doesn't end, maybe we'd still be talking.

– Do you have a lot of friends? Or do you select them carefully?
–I'm the type of person who makes friends easily. My acquaintances are from all over the world, from Japan to Australia to the United States. Maybe even in Antarctica, too. Football is like that: it brings people together. I have a lot of acquaintances, but less of real friends. I moved out of home when I was thirteen, but my childhood friends and I still have a close relationship. We often video chat. So, friendship really means a lot to me.

– Do you not miss work?
–Of course, I do!I want to work!I find myself empty during the weekends more and more often. I've had offers from Europe and outside of Europe in recent months. However, in the period behind us, I certainly didn't want to go far. The coronavirus has made everyone's lives very difficult, and we, coaches, are no exception. Traveling isn't so easy, many of my friends are stranded in Asia, they cannot even come home to visit their families. And if they go back, they'll have to spend two weeks in a hotel room. It's not easy.

– Where were you contacted from?
– China, Australia, and APOEL in Cyprus have also called me back. Since I left, who knows how many coaches they've had. I didn't leave because of being unsuccessful. I left because they wanted to bring some local assistant coaches, but I stuck to my own people. I'm stubborn in that regard. Then I was called to one of the former Soviet countries as national team head coach, but it was too close to Afghanistan, so I quickly thanked them for the opportunity. The German second division also contacted me the other day – it wasn't an offer, but they asked what my attitude toward work is now.

– And? Are you ready to take on the next challenge?
–Absolutely! It was nice to relax, but I miss the atmosphere of the dressing room and the smell of the lawn. I desire another challenge. If I really wanted to, I could go to Germany to work as a television commentator, but now I've canceled that, too. My place is near my wife. I could be a dad again any minute.

– Are you serious? Congratulations!
– My wife is due soon; we're expecting our baby by the end of October. I already have two daughters, they're thirty-two and twenty-two, and now I will have a third daughter.

– Did you choose an international name for her?
– She'll be Emilia Hannah, but most likely, everyone will call her Emi.

– Last time, you've said you felt half Hungarian.
– As you can see. I'm going to have a half-Hungarian little girl now. If someone told me ten years ago that I will live in Hungary and expect another little girl from a Hungarian mother, I would've bought that person a bottle of drink telling them to stop talking nonsense. Now, I'm here in Budapest, and I can't wait to be a dad again.