STUTTGART(1)

Heldt Hits Back At 'Hypocrite' Hoeneß Stuttgart's sporting director Horst Heldt has continued the war of words with counterpart Uli Hoeneß, branding



VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich, the two great rivals of southern Germany, have never been close.

But the clubs' respective sporting directors Horst Heldt and Uli Hoeneß have been embroiled in a very public spat this week as speculation over striker Lukas Podolski continues.

Stuttgart have shown interest in bringing the out-of-favour German international to the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, but their attention was most unwelcome at the Allianz Arena.

“It’s not right to flirt with a player in this way, who still has a two-and-a-half year contract with his club” ranted Hoeneß. “I don’t know how Stuttgart would react if we said that we were interested in Mario Gomez.”

Hypocrite Hoeneß

But Hoeneß' suggestion that the Swabians "follow the proper etiquette in future" has really riled VfB sporting director Heldt, who branded Hoeneß a hypocrite.

"I merely said that we, VfB Stuttgart, must act if Podolski ever comes on the market," he told Bild. "No contact has been initiated."

Murky Magath Dealings

But Bayern, he says, should practise what they preach. "We're not happy that advances were made to our manager (Armin Veh) by Bayern in front of live TV cameras," he complained. "Because we've already had bad experiences with them over Felix Magath."

Magath, now manager at Wolfsburg, was controversially poached from Stuttgart by Bayern three years ago. It was a controversial move that saw Uli Hoeneß announce a deal had been done with the manager live on TV before the end of the season - Stuttgart were in the dark and Magath still had another year on his contract at the Daimler.

Klose Controversy

It is easy to see why Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer's recent suggestions to Veh, who led VfB to the league title last season, about the job in Munich have so angered the Wuertemmburg side. And after Bayern were caught tapping up then Bremen striker Miroslav Klose in a Hannover hotel last season, it's clear that it isn't just managers that the Munich side approach in a shady way.

No Love Lost

This spat is just the latest in a line of incidents that prove there is no love lost between Hoeneß and Heldt. Hoeneß famously questioned 31-year-old Heldt's talents as a sporting director last summer when asked if the VfB man would make a suitable successor to him the Allianz Arena. "I can't just let some 30-year-old take the seat here like Heldt," scoffed Hoeneß.