Erling Haaland, playing under Matthias Sammer and more: Interview with former Borussia Dortmund defender André Bergdølmo
BM: How did your signing for Der BVB come about? It was reported at the time to have been pretty rushed as Dortmund had injuries to key players like Metzelder and Frings and you came in to provide cover, is that the story?
AB: I had played in the Rosenborg team that beat BVB in 1999 in the Champions League, and BVB’s sporting director Michael Zorc had a good relationship with my agent at the time. So it was just a phone call and then it was done. As you say there was a little bit of a hurry because the transfer had to be done by that Wednesday before midnight so I could be in the squad for the Champions League qualification matches. So that is how things happened.
BM: And you met with Michael Zorc the next day for the signing in Dortmund?
AB: So, it is a little bit of a funny story, my wife said ‘No, I don’t want to go to Germany’ and she had that face on her, you know the one, ‘when I get you home you are going to hear what I have to say’?
It took my agent who is a psychologist to persuade her, I think what changed everything was when Michael Zorc said there was an English school for the kids. Finally, she said, ‘ok I will come and have a look,’ and she did and before I knew I was taking the medical in Bochum and on Saturday making my debut against VFL Wolfsburg at the Westfalenstadion.
BM: So you are playing under Matthias Sammer, who of course now is a technical consultant again at Dortmund. What an extraordinary footballer, he led by example. Like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it doesn’t get much bigger than Sammer. He had a reputation for being a disciplinary is that a way of putting it?
AB: Yeah, frankly speaking, you put the word in my mouth. He never spoke English to me. I had German in school when I was a teenager but the different thing at BVB was the club expected the players to all speak in German. When I came to Ajax, everyone spoke in English so I didn’t expect that it was very hard at first.
BM: There was a message I think, that’s how we do things here, our way, the German way?
AB: Yes. It was difficult for the French guys like Warmuz, the Brazilians like Dede, the Nordics like me and Niclas Jensen. We learned the language quite fast on the pitch at least the basics. As a leader Sammer was impressive especially as a player. As a coach he could take it too far. Maybe he has changed? I remember we were training on a Wednesday.
‘I got injured and I had to go to the club doctor who was in Bochum and got fined because Sammer had not been informed, 2000 euros.’
We discussed it and when he found out why I was late he reduced the fine to €1,000 and I just thought that is not right, the absence was entirely reasonable. Stefan Reuter used to collect the fines and I just said ‘I am not going to pay’ so Sammer said the next day at training ‘everyone who didn’t pay their fines will now pay double’ which I thought was unacceptable. I worked under a lot of coaches in my career, but Sammer could go too far. But football is not like just any other job, it’s complicated, if you want to be a successful player you have to manage conflicts.
BM: Well Matthias Sammer did help Dortmund win the Bundesliga title in 2002, so I guess some of his coaching techniques must have been successful. Did the differences with the players contribute to why Bert Van Marwijk came?
AB: We ended up outside of the European qualifying spots in the 7th place and the impact on the club financially cannot be underestimated, I think it was one of the main reasons the club were in financial difficulty so Sammer had to go in my view. So we were told a few days later he was going and that was that.
BM: I guess you were not altogether unhappy?
AB: It was an unbelievable experience to learn from such a good coach. No doubt about that. But I think I wasn’t alone among the players or the supporters. That’s football.
BM: What was your first impression of life at BVB? Guys like Metzelder, Reuter and Buckley. The Brazilians like Dede and Evanilson made an extraordinary impact at Borussia Dortmund.
AB: Evanilson was a fantastic player and a great character in the team, Frings he wasn’t match fit. I played a lot with Éwerton which was fantastic. He and Amoroso were close. I think Reuter was on his way out he was in his last part of his career but he was a leader in the team unquestionably. Tomáš Rosický was basically as a player unbelievable. You know he wasn’t big or strong, he wasn’t good with his head but on the ball he was – perfect. Yeah they were all very good guys and in spite of our different languages we found a way to be a team.