With Pal Dardai in charge, Hertha Berlin hope to become boring again
Pal Dardai is back for a third time at Hertha Berlin, trying to rescue a club, that after years of chaos is threatening to fall behind their local rivals.
The same procedure as every year, with just six games left in the Bundesliga season, Hertha Berlin have pressed the reset button once again and fired head coach Sandro Schwarz. Club legend Pal Dardai has now taken over the club for a third time.
Dardai was in charge from 2015 to 2019 and again from January 2021 to November 2021. During his first spell in charge, the 47-year-old Hungarian oversaw a relative period of stability. Under the head coach, the club averaged 1.38 points on average in 172 games.
Although Hertha often felt like an underachieving side at the time, in hindsight, it was the most stable period in recent history. Twice the club qualified for Europe and otherwise would finish right in the middle of the pack. Hertha were what the Germans called a “graue Maus” (grey mouse)—average, boring, the total opposite of the city of Berlin, which is one of the most exciting and dynamic cities in Europe.
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