St. Gallen sports director Stilz in an interview: “It all started at HSV, I felt most comfortable at St. Pauli.”

Blick: Roger Stilz, you were gone for a long time. Are you back home now?
Style: I have two houses. One of them is Hamburg. And my first is in Eastern Switzerland. That’s why it’s a homecoming.

Do you remember these people?
Of course, I have become a different person in the twenty years. It is like everyone who returns to his native village after a long time. Someone speaks to you and asks: “Do you remember me?” I have decided to always tell the truth in this matter. And so, two or three times in the past few weeks, I’ve had to admit: the area around my eyes looks familiar, but I can’t think of the name. My mother once said something nice to me: ‘Be careful not to preserve people like a jar of candied meat. Everyone has their story and the years in between.” That’s how it is with me, of course.

You went to Hamburg as a Challenge League player in 2004 to study German.
While other students went to Malaysia to build wells, I went to Northern Germany. The plan was to study there for a year and play football. But Hamburg meant well to me and I meant well to Hamburg. I stayed.

Stilz, who played in Switzerland for Baden, Etolie Carouge, Kriens and Vaduz, remains on the Elbe and has had a great career. As a footballer, he laces his boots in the regional and major competitions for the Hamburg district clubs Altona 93 and Victoria. At “Vicky” he becomes youth coordinator, player coach and assistant coach; he soon notices that he enjoys his duties as coach and manager. And above all, those around him soon notice that the Swiss career changer is capable of anything. At HSV and in Nuremberg he worked as an assistant coach under coaches such as Van Maarwijk, Ismael and Fink, at St. Pauli he led the youth academy for five years, then he went to Waasland-Beveren in Belgium and the 2nd Bundesliga as sports director Jahn Regensburg.

Where was it best?
It all started at HSV. And I felt most comfortable in St. Pauli.

Why?
The mix between working in the field and in the office was good. And the club’s values ​​suit me. FC St. Pauli is also a place of great emotions and desires. But most importantly: we were able to set a sporting tone for the young people. FC St. Pauli has never brought so many young players to the professional ranks. Many of the projects in athletics, education or sports psychology worked; it fit together well.

St. Pauli is considered a club that claims to think beyond the sidelines.
Yes. And that is also what happens there.

Few other clubs go this far.
Correct. That’s okay too. Every club has its history, its roots, its colors, its message. I wouldn’t advise anyone to copy things. It’s as if a silent coach suddenly starts shouting artificially. That does not work.

At Waasland-Beveren in Belgium, Stilz learns to “be the new man”, as he puts it. New football culture, different customs, unusual approaches. He works there for a club with American owners that is part of a network. He stays for eleven months and then goes to Regensburg. After leaving the Bavarian second division club, Stilz has been without a job for over a year.

What does a football official with a German study background do with so much free time?
The break was good after years of hardly any. Often not even between stations. I continued my education, joined other clubs and wrote down my experiences. But finally read it again. Peter Stamm for example… (grins) Well, can I still say that now? He is from Winterthur.

In St. Gallen you follow in the great footsteps of Alain Sutter, the club works. If something doesn’t go as it should in the future, they might say: it could be because of Stilz. Difficult?
The club has developed positively in recent years. It has become more professional, has a clear face, with people who stand for something: We play attractive football for reliability, integrity and more. The club has become different than twenty years ago, even though it still has ups and downs on a sporting level. But which club doesn’t have that?

That’s what you say. But does the environment also say that?
I’m not concerned with that. Anyone who works in football knows that something is always going on, but it is never completely calm. At the same time you can say: There was always drama around FC St. Gallen in the 1990s and 2000s, in the club and around it, with championship titles, relegation and promotion, I noticed that as a teenager. Of course we don’t want that anymore, we are more stable.

This is bad news for us in the media.
I can reassure you. Things are still said to be dramatic on the pitch. This has been working very well for some time (laughs).

Is it doubly complicated: if you can work for your club as a local?
Everyone here in the region has their story with FC St. Gallen, including me. For me it’s about Ivan Zamorano and his visit to the Tübach gym. I still have the photo with him. But I’ve never been much of a fan type, I’ve noticed that in recent years. Don’t get me wrong: I have an incredibly emotional attachment to the game. And I really mean that so dramatically when I say it. I love speed, I love emotions, I love technical finesse, I love everything about this game. But I am convinced that in a leadership position like mine it is important to stay on top of things. For me, but also for the club. It’s not a disadvantage if you’re not a fan.

In St. Gallen a good half series was often followed by a weak one. The first half of the season was good, before the 1-0 win against SLO there were five games without a win. What do you do to avoid déjà vu?
If we had lost 1:5, 0:4 and 2:6 in the previous matches, fallen apart in the second half and didn’t know which way was up or down, we would have had to worry. But that wasn’t the case. The games were close. For me it’s about assessing the performance delivered, not just the simple results.

Your first transfer period as sports director was quiet. In addition to loaning talented striker Jovan Milosevic, they brought back Victor Ruiz from Saudi Arabia to compensate for injury losses. He hasn’t put up a serious fight since August. Quite a project.
He is not a project. He is simply the best solution for our midfield in this situation.

Where is he?
On that spot. At least in training – and he recently celebrated his comeback against Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy.

When is your colleague actually coming? When you were introduced, it was said that the intention was actually to take over the sporting leadership together with Sutter.
I have two orders. On the one hand, I do the normal work of a sports director. That means: coach, team, staff, leadership role. To this end, the board has instructed me to examine the club in the sports sector and to make suggestions on how we can best position ourselves. What these proposals will look like will become clear in due course.