In the middle of a period of success, both sporting and financial, Christian Keller ended his era as managing director of Jahn Regensburg after eight years. talks about his vaunted transfer policy and what he plans for the future.
It was a turning point for Jahn Regensburg: a week ago, long-time sole managing director Christian Keller was bade farewell, and the club has already reorganised itself with a separation of responsibilities: Philipp Hausner is responsible for the financial area, Roger Stilz has been recruited for the sporting matters.
However, the decision to divide responsibility among several shoulders was not made with Keller’s announced departure – but already in late autumn 2019 at an annual strategy meeting. “At that meeting, we were unanimous in our opinion that we had to move towards a solution with two managing directors”. A realignment in which Keller no longer saw any room for himself – he did not want or could not limit himself to “just” one area. “That’s not possible, I know myself well enough for that. I’d know that I’m interfering with the other person if he doesn’t do his job the way I like it.” And already at this point Keller drew the consequences for himself: “So I have to leave in this constellation, anything else wouldn’t be fair. “
Football is a team sport in which the we is greater than the I.
Accordingly, Keller leaves behind a tilled field. When he took up his post, he found an SSV Jahn that was perceived “as a marginal note in the city and the region” – “a bad one” at that. Keller set to work in the club and turned “everything from right to left”. And thus ushered in the turnaround: “He’s a player again, in the city as well as in the East Bavarian region he has a broad social anchoring, which is indispensable for the club’s development.”
The clever transfer policy under Keller, for which he earned respect even from his rivals, also contributed to this transformation. But he does not want to pin the successes exclusively on his own lapel: “That was not my transfer policy, it was ours,” Keller made unequivocally clear. Sometimes seven or eight people were involved in a transfer, “from the scouts to the coaching staff”, said Keller. The fact that he, as managing director, was held responsible in the event of a failure and was the one who “took the rap as the main person in charge” was absolutely understandable. “But in the event of success, I would like to make it clear that this was a joint effort.
Keller sees personality as a decisive factor in a transfer
On the whole, Keller and his team proved to have a lucky hand with the transfers. For me, the last of the performance factors – technique, physicality, tactics and personality – is the most important,” said Keller, describing his philosophy. “Because even if it is sometimes forgotten: Football is a team sport in which the we is greater than the I. “
Now Keller has left the common “we” in Regensburg. “It was a farewell you couldn’t have wished for better,” Keller said of the emotional scenes after the 3-0 win at FC Ingolstadt, when he was thrown aloft by the team in front of the fans. Keller will remain loyal to football, that much has become clear to him while cycling. “I’ll leave that area open, even if the scales tilt more towards the sporting,” said the 42-year-old. Two factors drive him in his job search: “I have to be able to make a contribution to develop and improve something. And with the people around me, you have to be able to create seriously.”
A knock-out criterion for Keller, however, would be if a club did not commit to the 50+1 rule. “My football socialisation was and is that clubs are something for the people in their location and not for a few investors.” And even though there is already – understandably – speculation about his possible new employer, he has not yet signed anywhere: “That is correct,” he said, but announced a decision “before the end of November”. After that, it’s time to recharge his batteries: “In January and February, I’ll probably travel abroad for a longer period of time.
