The president coming out of the curve

It's a volunteer position that takes up a lot of time, but for Kay Bernstein it also feels like a calling. The presidency at Hertha BSC takes up “very, very many hours” every week. “Full-time and challenging,” says the 42-year-old, who has been in office since the end of June. “Growing into it is a question of: How do you deal with the expectations and how do you deal with them in the family? To really use the time you have.”

Despite all the effort, he doesn't seem to have run out of enthusiasm. He's probably too young for that, he says. “I still have the energy. The people and their gratitude give me the energy to continue on the path.” There is a lot of football romance in Bernstein’s story: at the end of the 1980s he moved from Dresden to Berlin-Marzahn, and as a teenager a friend took him to Hertha – and it won’t let him go. “Fan, cowl, then ultra,” he is quoted as saying. Bernstein becomes the lead singer in the Ostkurve and gets involved with the club, often with the Ultras on things that only have a peripheral connection with football.

Kay Bernstein used to be the lead singer in the Ostkurve. © ANSA / CLEMENS BILAN

This social commitment is still important to him today. “There is so much wonderful charitable power out there. We want to support that even more,” he says about one of his goals for Hertha. But he also has conflicts with the institutions. He was temporarily banned from the stadium three times. Dieter Hoeneß, long-time Hertha manager, told rbb: “I fought out several disputes with Kay Bernstein. I have to say that I liked him even back then, even though he caused us some worries.”

“We were well on the way to becoming irrelevant to people.” Kay Bernstein, President Hertha BSC Bernstein is setting up an event and communications agency, and he also changes places in the stadium: to the main stand. As the end of Werner Gegenbauer's era, which had become increasingly difficult, became apparent, Bernstein announced his candidacy. “We were well on the way to becoming irrelevant to people,” he said. “And that was something I couldn't allow because it broke my heart.” The fact that he is actually elected is also a slap in the face for the Hertha establishment, some of which blatantly wanted to push through his opponent Frank Steffel. The concerns immediately after the election are there: An ex-Ultra with no experience in managing a Bundesliga club, can he do that? They have now largely dispersed. “He has the Hertha DNA” Kay Bernstein isn't much of a chatterbox; he takes a moment to reflect before giving some answers. He addresses problems clearly. And he has made the club and the office more approachable again, and not just with his omnipresent Hertha training jacket.

Bernstein takes the fans on a bike ride to the stadium and buys kebabs for the employees for his birthday. “He has the Hertha DNA, that’s positive. He knows exactly what it means to give everything for the club,” said original Berliner Kevin-Prince Boateng about the new president in August. Managing director Fredi Bobic also apparently works well with him. Hertha had turbulent years behind it. These are now over. © ANSA / FOCKE STRANGMANN

Bernstein did what he said he would do. Try to bring everyone along, communicate more clearly. He calls it “cultural change” himself. Togetherness has grown. “But it was also a lot of hard work on trust-building measures to get there,” says Bernstein. What should Hertha stand for under him in the capital? “For honest, emotional, enthusiastic football. For social responsibility in the city,” he says. Unlike in the turbulent past years, the club remains relatively quiet, even in the face of failures or other problems. The espionage affair surrounding investor Lars Windhorst was Bernstein's first major crisis, and this has also been managed confidently so far. “I wouldn't call it a crisis at all, but rather a baptism of fire and a test of how to deal with it sensibly. And I can say for myself that it makes being president feel even more like a calling,” he says. There is still a lot of work to be done But despite all the positive developments, there is still a lot of work to be done. The next few years are unlikely to be easy. In terms of sport, the team under Sandro Schwarz performs much better. But the cold numbers say: 15th place in the table, tied with VfB Stuttgart in the relegation spot. Financially, things look even bleaker. To do this, the plans for building their own stadium must be concretized and, most likely, cooperation with a new investor must be regulated. “We have to be patient and continue on the path we have now taken. Then he will be successful,” says Bernstein. And about expectations: “It will be a process of continually making it clear to people that we have to align our expectations with reality.”

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The president coming out of the curve

Big City dreams, relegation battle, dispute with the investor: Things have often been turbulent at Hertha recently. Entrepreneur and former ultra Kay Bernstein has been president since June - and is changing the internal climate.

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