Paul Fernie knows a lot of football pitches and even more football players in Europe and beyond. He spent the last 17 of his 37 years penetrating the professional football world from all sides. During his career, the Englishman has already been a youth coach, assistant coach, analyst, (head) scout and sporting director.
He has been the latter at SV Wehen Wiesbaden (SVWW) for the past three years and, according to his contract, will be at SV Darmstadt 98 for the next three years until mid-2027. It is only 45 kilometers from the stadium of the second division relegation candidate SVWW to the arena of the designated Bundesliga relegation candidate SVD, but for Fernie the move within Hesse is of course a step up.
Even though he let it be known during his performance on Tuesday in Darmstadt that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the circumstances of his departure from SVWW. If you ask around at Wehen Wiesbaden, there is great incomprehension and disappointment that Fernie is taking this step in the heated relegation battle shortly before the end of the season. “I had imagined my end there differently,” said the Brit, who gained his first experience abroad as chief scout at SVWW from 2016 to 2019 and most recently achieved promotion to the second division in the responsible role of sporting director.
The “Lilien” had to fill the position after Carsten Wehlmann unexpectedly resigned at the end of the year. Rüdiger Fritsch assesses the fact that the “lilies” and now the people of Wiesbaden are the victims: “This is the football business, where the shirt is closer than the pants.” They “didn’t do anything unfair,” said the SVD president, because Fernie’s contractual constellation made this possible.
Fernie now inherits Wehlmann’s department, which has remained unchanged, and is said to have wanted more creative freedom in this role. With Fritsch and Tom Eilers, board member for the licensed player area, there are two other influential figures. Fernie, who by nature doesn’t want to be in the front row on an open stage, sees his new job as a “huge opportunity to implement my ideas. Squad planning is now a priority, there is time pressure.”
In addition to 17 professionals in the squad with contracts that extend beyond the end of the season, 17 other working papers (including six loan players) will now expire at the end of June. The consequences of the bad news that captain Fabian Holland tore his cruciate ligament against Freiburg now also affects Fernie’s area of responsibility.
“I have worked with a lot of money and with relatively little money,” said Fernie, alluding to his two-year employment in the New York Redbull football cosmos between his two engagements in Wiesbaden. In addition to Fernie’s network, which has been built up over years of work, it is a skill that the people of Darmstadt value. “It’s important to make do with our resources and our substance and make the best of it,” said Fritsch. In any case, Fernie’s qualities shown at the SVWW convinced the Darmstadt team.