From 2012 to 2013, Robin Dutt was sporting director for the DFB for almost a year. The 57-year-old has now spoken in detail about this time and the current crisis in the national team.

Above all, Dutt defended Oliver Bierhoff against Sky, who is currently heavily criticized. Bierhoff already saw the current construction sites coming and fought for better structures. He, Dutt himself, left the association after just one year because his ideas fell on deaf ears at the top of the association.

"But it was certainly not the fault of people like Olli [for my departure], who fully went along with it, but rather this DFB apparatus, which is being ground far too slowly, that I finally saw my time as a disciple wasted," said the current one Coach of Wolfsberger AC.

Together with the sporting director of the national teams, Joti Chatzialexiou, Bierhoff was already able to develop visions and think outside the box. Now the DFB has to move as a "entire apparatus" and quickly implement the ideas of those responsible.

Just as he still thinks Bierhoff is the right man, Dutt also advocates continuity in the position of national coach. "I can only say one thing - we tried to construct something at the last World Cup and then blame the coach as the problem," he explained. "In Jogi Löw, we tried to damage an excellent coach in the criticism and now we are trying to do the same with Hansi Flick, who has won so many titles with FC Bayern Munich in a very short time and is an excellent coach."

"We're trying to change that patch with a new coach - I really hope we don't do that because the wound underneath is festering and bleeding. The coach is definitely not the problem because then we'll still be looking for it 16 years from now a world championship title," summed up Dutt.

This article was originally published on 90min.de as a man "with visions": Ex-DFB sports director Robin Dutt defends Bierhoff.