Full name: Ricki Lloyd Herbert
Born: 10 April 1961 in Auckland, New Zealand
Nationality: New Zealander
Height: 183m
Weight: 90 kg
Career as a player: 1978-1982: Mt Wellington. 1983: Sydney Olympic. 1984-1986: Wolverhampton Wanderers (England). 1987-1989: Mt Wellington.
Career as a coach: 1990-1993: Papakura. 1996-1999: Central. 2006: Knights. Since 2005: New Zealand national team. Since 2007: Wellington Phoenix. Honours as a player: Two New Zealand league championships and three New Zealand cup titles. Took part in the 1982 FIFA World Cup™ in Spain, New Zealand’s first and so far only appearance in the final competition. 84 caps for New Zealand.

Anyone who talks to Overath realises that two years in the German second division is must hurt a man who has been used to life at the top, whether in his career or in retirement. That said, there are very few people who actually know the real Overath, a man of unwavering Christian belief who will not allow his club’s current status to hurt him.
Overath is also a busy man away from football. In the 1990s, Overath and his wife Karin adopted a five-week old baby from Brazil. “We have had so much luck in life that we wanted to give just a little bit back,” he explains.
He does just that with his yearly collections for the homeless in his hometown of Siegburg. When Christmas comes around, Overath and a group of like-minded friends give gifts to the homeless — not merely gifts of a material nature, but also a gift of pride and renewed courage to face life. These are the people who need him, the people who lean on him. Overath is a freeman of Siegburg — not because of his footballing career but because of his work for social causes.
At times, Overath must privately have been surprised by his public image as a club president mocked and accused of nepotism, cluelessness and even cowardice for not talking to the press day in, day out. His argument that the managing director and the coach should be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day business of the club is heard all too frequently. The response always seems to be “You are the president — you take care of Cologne!”.
And so he does just that by doing all he can. There is no question that he enjoys the role, but he does get frustrated by those who stand in judgement. Above all, however, he knows that football will be underway again soon with the 2007-08 season just around the corner. Then the battle for goals and points can commence, perhaps with promotion at the end of the tunnel. And that would maybe, just maybe, be the perfect time for Wolfgang Overath to step down.

SELF-MADE MAN
Whereas some people carry on playing for the sheer joy of it, Overath would charge around the football pitch like a man possessed. For him, football was not about fun. “Football is the reason I am here. It always has been.” That did not change for many, many years. Even when it was no longer about money, just about the thrill of victory. It proved once and for all that people like Overath do not play football to earn money. He simply wanted to score one goal more than the opposition — anything else was a bonus. The money that he earned in Cologne — rejecting all offers from abroad in the process – he invested astutely. He also accepted a lucrative job as an adidas representative in the Middle Rhine Valley and traded well in the property market. In other words, Wolfgang Overath was and indeed is a self-made man, someone who has always been too clever to have to rely on someone else’s money. That explains why he has been able to approach the Cologne presidency in a relaxed state of mind. “I’m not earning a cent here. I can walk away whenever I like.”
Overath is a man who has never walked away from a challenge though, and he does not intend to do so with the club in such a turbulent phase. He has been president for three years now, two of which Cologne have spent languishing in the second division. The 2006-07 season will unquestionably go down as the bleakest in the club’s long history despite significant investment and the signing of a respected coach in Christoph Daum. Overath did suffer, though, when those who had campaigned for Daum to be brought on board suddenly began to criticise him for doing just that. “That hurt,” he admits.
“Some of the criticism has been justified, but not regarding Daum.”