Enthusiastic and motivated: Brendel as new Dynamo sports director

When Thomas Brendel took up his post, he sweetened the start of the week for the office staff. Crumble cake was served to mark the debut of the new Managing Director of Sport at third-division soccer club Dynamo Dresden. At his presentation on Tuesday, the 48-year-old left it open as to whether he would also give new coach Thomas Stamm a gift in the form of a player of his choice.

Brendel had to answer enough questions anyway. After all, he is more of a blank slate above the regional league and, as he admitted, he knew very little about Dynamoland. Nevertheless, he is enthusiastic and highly motivated because: "It was my first application in my sporting career. And I'm glad I did it."

Brendel has plenty of experience in soccer. Most recently, he worked at FSV Frankfurt for seven years. There he was a player, including at Kickers Offenbach, a coach, including at Borussia Fulda, and sports director. When his application and a job interview at Dynamo leaked out, he was immediately released by FSV. "Then I was in waiting mode". Until the acceptance came.

Of course, at a highly inopportune time. At the end of May, the first masses are usually sung regarding new, especially athletically attractive players. The season, which again ended without a promotion happy ending, also meant that Dynamo had to let some players go who they actually wanted to keep, as supervisory board member Jens Hieckmann openly admitted. It is obvious that the committee, which has to appoint the sporting director, is not entirely innocent of the situation. After all, they had already agreed in January to dismiss Brendel's predecessor Ralf Becker, which happened in March. It was only weeks later that the tender was announced and the selection process was also associated with unpleasant background noise.

At least the supervisory board took some of the pressure off Brendel on Tuesday. "It's good for us not to talk about goals now. Of course, we as SG Dynamo are driven to a certain extent, and our aim is to play as high up the table as possible without writing the word "promotion" about it and chasing this slogan all year long. We have to make a cut now. It's a new challenge, but it's not the case that the next shot has to be right," said Hieckmann, also in reference to the club's financial situation.

Brendel heard all of this with visible satisfaction. Despite his inexperience in the German professional leagues, he believes he is well equipped for the job. "I know many advisors, especially of young players. That is my main focus. In addition to players who know and master the league, I also want to bring players to Dresden who will ensure continuity in the coming years," said the father of two, who would like to relocate to Dresden with his wife and daughters.

He has one major goal. When Dynamo travel to the training camp on July 1, new coach Stamm should have his squad together as far as possible. "But of course we want to keep our options open until the end of August to do something." That's when the summer transfer window closes and Brendel's work will come under scrutiny for the first time.