Managers can often use their charisma to inspire their players to greater successes on the football pitch.
Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho have been credited with knowing the correct buttons to push during trophy-laden eras, to get the best out of their stars. Emotional diatribes, passionate messages and fiery rollickings have often accompanied any tactical information.
The contents of a stadium dressing room can often be far from PG as expletives are thrown around in all directions in search of a positive result. Hoffenheim boss Christian Ilzer was certainly unafraid to take a more adult approach to conveying his message amid a poor run of form.
While he did not go as far as dropping his trousers as Louis van Gaal famously did to his Bayern Munich stars, Ilzer perhaps left his players more bemused than inspired when he attempted to arouse a positive response. The Austrian coach unleashed a dildo in his bid to elicit how ‘hard’ his team had to be.
Ahead of game against Freiburg in December, Ilzer dressed as a chef, according to German outlet Bild. The Bundesliga boss stirred an imaginary pot at their training ground and added the ingredients his team required.
Requesting ‘more spice’, he pulled out red chilli peppers. Desiring ‘manly strength’, Ilzer presented a dildo and exclaimed: “You have to be just as hard as this dildo.”
The 47-year-old’s stiff message left players perplexed but achieved results as Hoffenheim earned a draw against high-flyers Freiburg. The German side have been unable to sustain their performance however and under Ilzer have managed just four wins in 17 competitive matches.
In response to SPORT BILD’s questioning of Ilzer’s methods, the club said: “The basic rule at TSG is: what happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room.”
Ilzer’s assistant, Uwe Hölzl, is often the figure to make use of abstract inspiration on a matchday. In his time at Sturm Graz, Holzl has called upon the barracuda and honey badger in a bid to spark players.
Ahead of his Ilzer’s first match in charge of Hoffenheim, Holzl used the imagery of a ‘steam locomotive’ as the imagery of what they hope to achieve. Hoffenheim currently sit seven points outside of the relegation zone in the Bundesliga in 15th position.
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