ERICH RUTEMOELLER takes pride in the achievements of all of his former pupils.
But a special mention this morning must go to his footballing exchange student from Scotland. Rutemoeller headed up the formidable DfB coaching academy in the mid 2000s when Paul Lambert earned his license out there as the clock ticked down on his playing career at Celtic.
As Lambert closes in on a move from Norwich City to Aston Villa, the veteran former Germany assistant manager and DfB coach educator paid tribute to the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder, with whom he still keeps in contact periodically. If the DfB coaching course was where Lambert learned his trade, Rutemoeller revealed that further honourable mentions are due to then Scotland coach Berti Vogts and Maren Meinert, the current Germany under-20 women's coach, who acted as an unofficial translator for the more troublesome pieces of German language.
"For sure I remember working with Paul Lambert," Rutemoeller told Herald Sport. "We are still in contact. Once in a while we exchange messages by SMS or perhaps he calls. I was really proud and a little bit surprised when he made it with Norwich City to the Premiership and then had such a good season and stayed up.
"But I am really glad for him that he is doing so well for himself and I hope he goes on from there. In a way it is a surprise that he is going to Aston Villa, it will be interesting to see if he can get along with a bigger club. But I think he can do it because he definitely has something. He was very professional as a player and also in his attitude, and I think he can transfer that to his daily coaching work at a big club.
"He was the first and only Scot we ever had on the course," the veteran coach added. "How he came to be there was a long story, which went right back to when Berti Vogts was the Scotland head coach. I think he wanted him to do things right, then hopefully be under-17 or under-20 coach for him or something. Berti asked me if I could help Paul and since he played for Dortmund and spoke German I had no problems to bring him into the course and he was a fantastic participant. He was very disciplined, he had a good communication with everybody and I think he enjoyed the course.
"I can't remember the full list of others who were on the class alongside him – although maybe Zvonimir Soldo [the former Stuttgart and Croatia player was one]," Rutemoeller added. "But I do remember it because sometimes there were some special words which Paul didn't know in German and he was supported by Maren Meinert, who is one of the best women coaches in Germany. They were always sitting together, she was a kind of interpreter for Paul Lambert and I think they are still friends today. I remember for the weekend he went home to his family and he was always on time on Monday for the course."
Whatever different nuances Lambert gleaned from avoiding the Largs route in favour of Germany, he has since served his time after being a failure of sorts in his first two jobs at Livingston and Wycombe Wanderers. His progress has been such that Rutemoeller wouldn't rule out renewing acquaintance with him at one of the big Bundesliga clubs in the future.
"I think doing the DfB course fitted into his plans," he said. " It was his decision and I think it was the right decision. I do think that the German course is different from the rest although I am not too well informed about the content of other courses. We always try to optimise the courses in theory and practice and I think we are on a good track.
"Paul is very well liked in Germany, not just in Dortmund but all over Germany because he was a fantastic professional. The licence allows him to work wherever so I don't see why he couldn't work over here. We had Steve McLaren last season so why not Paul Lambert? Anything is possible."
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