Everton’s 2012/13 season was memorable for several reasons. It was the end of an era for David Moyes, who departed after 11 years, and Marouane Fellaini, who followed the Scotsman to Manchester United. It was a season defined by consistently positive results, including wins against the top six sides Tottenham Hotspur and both Manchester United and Manchester City, but that ultimately ended in disappointment after their sixth-place finish and their shock defeat to Roberto Martinez’s Wigan Athletic
side in the FA Cup semifinal. And for captain Phil Neville and Thomas Hitzlsperger, it also marked the end of their professional playing careers.
Born in Munich, West Germany, Hitzlsperger developed at Bayern Munich’s academy before joining Aston Villa, where, after a loan spell at Chesterfield, he emerged as a prominent figure in the first team. After five years in England, he returned to Germany and guided VfB Stuttgart to the 2006/07 Bundesliga title. Similar to other German midfielders like Diego Demme, he combined his tough-tackling ability with a cultured passing prowess, which saw him earn 52 caps for Germany between 2004 and 2010.
Hitzlsperger bounced around from Lazio to West Ham to Wolfsburg before enjoying a swan song with Everton. Just a few months after retiring at 31, he became the highest-profile male footballer to come out as gay. Since then, he’s remained active both as an LGBTQ+ advocate as well as a commentator and journalist, while he’s also served in boardroom roles for teams like Aalborg, Hellas Verona, and Stuttgart.
And while he only played nine times for the Toffees, he’s still finding the time to watch their games under his former manager (and now current manager of Everton) Moyes. However, he doesn’t agree with the persistent complaints about Everton’s lack of transfer activity. In an exclusive Royal Blue Mersey interview, Hitzlsperger stated:
“This is the new reality, and I have to accept it, but I think the transfer window takes way too much space in football. Personally, I think it would be much better to talk about football, the game itself, but we end up talking about transfers and money, and people like Fabrizio Romano become stars in the industry, and you think, ‘What’s he doing?’ He’s throwing around numbers and rumors, and just because he’s often the first one announcing somebody who’s leaving…is that really, really important?
“I think it’s important who plays well and how the guys perform. And yet, we spend so much of our time talking about transfers and big spending and not enough spending, that I think, ‘Oh god, I just don’t like this development.’ I don’t think I’m going to change it, so I have to accept it. It’s only going to get worse: there’s more of it because it allows more people to join in. The danger that I see: we don’t see everything that’s happening and not happening with a transfer – why a player arrives and for what amount of money.”
The now 44-year-old added that there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes but with the spotlight being manipulated by social media and influencers, not enough consideration goes into what it takes to complete a transfer.
“We don’t know the details, and I’ve seen enough in football over the last 10 years in different positions that I think what is presented to us in public doesn’t always reflect everything that went into it. And yet, we have a strong opinion about players we couldn’t sign, and this is very, very dangerous. There are people who may be accusing us of not trying hard enough, not paying enough money, but if they knew all the details of a transfer, then we would think about it differently. That’s why, with agents becoming so powerful, they feed journalists. Why would somebody like Fabrizio know all of this? Agents can feed him; clubs can feed him. A lot of people try to manipulate certain things, and that’s why I’m super, super cautious about judging transfers, because I know the stuff that’s going on behind the scenes, and I just don’t like all the comments, because there is so much manipulation going on.”
“It’s more communication and PR rather than what is actually happening, and a lot of money is being spent in different areas where I think people are getting overpaid for what they’re doing. It’s a tough business that needs a different skill set, but I find it annoying to see people screaming and coming up with theories and stuff. It seems like they just want to be the first one, and they don’t care about coming up with wrong information, because they’re trying to be the first. Then they say, ‘Oh, I didn’t have this information.’ It’s annoying. It really is annoying. We should talk more about football, but some of these guys just don’t know the game well enough to have a good opinion.”
Our thanks to Thomas Hitzlsperger for speaking with us.
