Updated11. May 2024, 2:21 p.m.
Football: In Thun, Andres Gerber still believes in the Super League
Former emblematic captain of the Oberland club, the current president is still thinking about promotion, but admits that it will probably have to go through the play-offs.
par
Renaud Tschoumy
Andres Gerber knows that his club will more than likely have to go through the play-offs to possibly regain a place in the Super League.
Claudio De Capitani/freshfocus
At the top of the Challenge League standings, things seem clear: Sion is six points ahead of Thun, and direct promotion to the Super League extends its arms to the Valais club, since Thun is condemned to win its last three matches. In Oberland, even if we know that we will probably have to go through the dams, we still remain optimistic.
Former midfielder and iconic captain of FC Thun – he led the team which held off Arsenal in the 2005/2006 Champions League group stage (1-2 defeat at Highbury on a Bergkamp goal scored in the 92nd minute! ) -, Andres Gerber, now 53 years old, remained faithful to what was his last club as a player (he played for Lausanne-Sports from 1998 to 2000).
Having become president of FC Thun in 2020, he says he believes promotion is completely within the ropes of the team coached by Mauro Lustrinelli. And he immediately puts the consequences of a possible failure into perspective. He opened up to Matin.cha few hours before a match against Schaffhausen that Thun must absolutely win this Saturday evening (6 p.m.).
Andres Gerber, do you still believe first place is possible for Thun?
I’ll start by telling you that we’ve seen a lot of overthrows in football. So, as long as nothing is mathematical, yes, we still believe in it. That being said, reason dictates that I say that I do not see Sion losing their last two matches.
“Reason requires me to say that I do not see Sion losing its last two matches”
Andres Gerber, president of FC Thun
Which would mean that you accept the fact of having to go through roadblocks…
Yes, totally. You know, after Sion’s victory on Thursday in Aarau (2-1), a sponsor put in our internal chat: “Damn, Sion won”. This caught my attention, and I told him it wasn’t that serious. When you have a play-off looming, with a return match at home (go on May 26, return on May 31), this creates euphoria around the team. A kind of excitement that is always nice to experience. It’s a bit like before a Cup final. You feel the tension building, you know that you will be playing in a full stadium, and somehow, it is to experience moments like this that the players train every day. I would even go so far as to say that I would find it a shame if they did not experience them!
Andres Gerber was relieved when he learned that Thun had received his license in the first instance.
Claudio De Capitani/freshfocus
But this creates the risk of being beaten in the total of two matches by the eleventh in the Super League, therefore of not celebrating promotion…
Yes and so? However, the earth would not stop rotating. I have enough experience to know what it is. Take the case of Baden: a year ago, this club was all in the euphoria of promotion to the Challenge League. And where is he today? He has had a terrible season, he has been relegated for a long time and he no longer has a president. So I wonder if the game is still worth it.
“Clubs like Yverdon or SLO are better off than us with the arrival of their new investors”
Andres Gerber, president of FC Thun
Are you saying you think Thun would be better in the Challenge League?
No, I didn’t say that. But I simply put in the balance that it is sometimes better to experience a very good Challenge League season, as is the case for us this season, than to experience hell a notch higher. I am the first to wish that we succeed in climbing, obviously. But I also know what that implies: a team to strengthen, security costs that are exploding, so many things to take on. We will inevitably have more sponsors and spectators, and we will receive more TV rights, but a rise is never easy to manage for a president and his committee.
Especially since Thun has experienced some financial problems in recent years…
Yes, and you can’t imagine what a relief it was for us to learn that we received our license in the first instance, as we were so afraid of being rejected. Managing a club like Thun means waging a perpetual fight. We would like to offer more, to our players, to the members of our staff, to our employees. But you can’t spend what you don’t have. In this sense, even clubs like Yverdon or SLO are better off than us with the arrival of their new investors.
Which doesn’t stop you from maintaining your optimism…
Why should I lose it? At worst, we will be roadblocks. So what? Either way, it’s not us who will have the pressure. We will have everything to gain. Our opponent in the play-off will have his place in the Super League to lose. He will inevitably be less confident than us and may become nervous under pressure. So I calmly wait for this to happen. I’ll take what comes, we’ll see what it will be.
Andres Gerber in the tackle against Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes: it was September 14, 2005 at Highbury, in the Champions League group stage.
AFP