Klopp answered the team’s questions with tactical rigor and with the footballing understanding he had absorbed from Wolfgang Frank. He spoke the players’ language, never belonged to the fraternity of empty phrase-makers, and quickly developed into the youngest coach in German professional football. Bild briefly nicknamed him Harry Potter because of his round spectacles — thankfully that never stuck.\n\nWhat did stick was his impact.
He kept Mainz up in 2000/01, took them to the Bundesliga in 2004 and, a year later, into the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds. The same year, Heidel’s car dealership filed for insolvency; only then did he become a full-time manager.\n\nAfter Klopp left, Heidel pulled another coaching ace from the deck in the shape of Thomas Tuchel, then planned his next coup: a new stadium. The image of Mainz as a self-proclaimed carnival club, complete with Narhalla March after every goal, also bears Heidel’s stamp.
By 2016, under another of Heidel’s inspired appointments, Martin Schmidt, Mainz even reached a European group stage. Heidel had lifted turnover from three million to 78 million euros. So much for insolvency.