It’s been five years since Jens Lehmann’s retirement from the game and the popular but eccentric former shot-stopper is ready to make an eagerly-awaited return.
The former Germany international has enjoyed the bright lights of television punditry over the past few years but he is adamant that making his mark from the dugout is where he can gain the ultimate satisfaction.
And at the age of 46 and with a UEFA A coaching licence under his belt, there’s nothing stopping him.
Lehmann’s coaching journey actually started in 2011. Having retired from the game after a stint at Stuttgart, he returned to Arsenal for a second time to complete his coaching badges and a work placement under the tutelage of Arsene Wenger, but ended up putting his boots back on again.
Wenger needed Lehmann to come out of retirement and sign a short-term playing deal to provide emergency goalkeeping cover, and the German obliged.
He made only one further appearance for the north London side, adding to the 199 occasions where he previously occupied the goalposts from July 2003 to May 2008.
But it was fitting he had the chance to work with Wenger again – a man that Lehmann admires greatly, despite some differences over the years, and is always available for a chat and coaching words of wisdom.
“I would like to become a coach now, I need to get back into coaching – I like learning, working with players. I’ve tried but I’ll see. Right now I’m an unemployed coach,” Lehmann told Sport360 exclusively at an IWC Schaffhausen event, ahead of the launch of the Portofino Automatic Moon Phase 37, the 10th special edition watch with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
Arsenal goalkeeping legend: Jens Lehmann.
“Arsene gave me important knowledge and advice on and off of the pitch, which will help me in the future. He is a fantastic manager, probably in terms of financial success, the best manager ever because he transformed a normal, successful football club into a massive business by buying and selling really well.
“He generated a lot of money to build a new stadium and the club is in a healthy position. With the way he’s kept going for so many years, you can learn a lot of things from him and you respect him.”
As a budding manager himself, Lehmann knows that the game can change very quickly and believes that Wenger’s achievements at the club shouldn’t be questioned, but he is being judged on the present. And the present, this season, just hasn’t been good enough, according to the German, who was part of the 2003-04 team that went through an entire league season unbeaten and was the last Wenger side to win a Premier League title.
“I’ve not been close to the club this season (at matches), but like everybody in football, it’s a game where results matter and that goes for all of us. When my results weren’t good I was substituted and I think as a coach or manager you always have to live with that pressure of results,” said the giant German.
“It’s disappointing for Arsenal, everybody was expecting Arsene to win the league this time when they were flying at the top of the Premier League and they should be able to beat a team like Leicester.
“The difference between Arsenal and Leicester is probably the effort Claudio Ranieri’s men are putting in. Are Arsenal tracking back enough? I don’t know. Leicester are running for their lives, they give everything and leave it all out there on the pitch – that’s what makes them special this year.
“All the other teams that are meant to be at the top, for some reason, have weaknesses and Leicester have benefited from that.”
Having been part of the German squad at three World Cups and three European Championships, winning 61 caps in the process, Lehmann knows only too well about the degree of hope and pressure from an expectant nation.
But, it’s never been something to faze the German team. In fact, Lehmann believes it will help the national side as they aim to go one better than their Euro 2012 semi-final finish at this summer’s tournament in France.
“They have to win it, it’s clear, Joachim Low’s said that. ‘It’s time to win it’, those were his words,” Lehmann, who won 61 caps for Die Mannschaft between 1998 and 2008, added. “He sees Euro 2016 as a step towards defending the World Cup in two years’ time and we expect that as a nation.”
Away from the professional game, Lehmann is passionate about giving back to grassroots football and is actively involved as an ambassador for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. He is a big supporter of Laureus’ Kicking Girls project, which runs across Germany, and gives girls aged between eight and 16, particularly those from ethnic minority groups, the chance to play the game and integrate into society.
“We need donations and if people think the Laureus World Sports Awards is too prestigious then they won’t give any more money and this just isn’t true,” Lehamann said. “So there’s a fine line where you need to be careful and honour successful sports stars and people but, on the other hand, it’s for the purpose where you want to show them as role models and give the youth some pictures and images of what you can become by focusing on sport.
“I only watched my role models play for Germany on television as a kid and as part of this year’s Laureus events in Berlin, we had Spanish giants, Raul and Carles Puyol, play a game of football with children where they had to hold each others’ hands. Barcelona and Real Madrid, hand-in-hand, it was nice to see. That’s what sport does. You forget the negative rivalries and political issues.”
The Portofino Automatic Moon Phase 37, the 10th special edition watch with Laureus.
Since 2005, as part of its social responsibility, IWC Schaffhausen has been one of the main sponsors of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, an organisation that brings together top-flight sport and social commitment at a high level.
