KKR Press Release - Hertha BSC and KKR enter strategic partnership
Hertha Press Release  - Hertha BSC und KKR schließen strategische Partnerschaft.

Tonight Bild is reporting that Ronny has sprained an ankle during training today. It appears, if the Bild is to be believed, that Ronny's ankle bent over during a tackle with Fabian Holland. No foul play was involved but it left Ronny in a heap crying out in pain.

After seeing Uli Schleicher (the team doctor) it became clear that the ankle was sprained and not broken. Even so this makes the chances of playing in the match against Nürnberg on Sunday tight at best. We'll see I guess . .

Saturday marks the start of the Rückunde for Hertha as they take on Eintracht Frankfurt away. I'm going to be away for the weekend visiting family in Devon this weekend so I may struggle to watch this match. I'm starting to shake at the prospect already! With a little luck I may be in WiFi range and I can sneak a look on my iPad! It's lucky that there is coverage on BT Sport for this match.

I am really hoping that Hertha will bring back all three points from this one. Hertha are arriving on the back of their 2:1 away win against Dortmund and Frankfurt have been a little challenged at home this season. Fingers crossed - Ha Ho He!

Well, that didn't go to plan did it? Hertha loose 1:0 in Frankfurt after putting on a disappointing display against a team that, until today had not won at home all season. I really hope they get their act together before next weeks match against Nürnberg - I don't want to go along to the Olympiastadion in subzero temperatures to not see any decent shots let alone goals. There has been talk about penalties and players that should have been sent off but neither happened so what is the point of debating it? I'm keeping those fingers crossed for another week and try to forget today . . .

Well the tickets for the last match of the 2013/14 season at the Olympiastadion on the 10th of May went on general sale on Monday. Up to that point they had only been on sale to members. Hertha are reporting that all of the remaining ticket quota was sold in just 118 minutes!!

This will mean that the Olympiastadion will be filled with 74,244 spectators! I am hoping for fine weather and a good end to a great season for the Old Lady - it should be good and I for one am really looking forward to it :)

Now it has been announced that extra seats are being put in the gap at the marathon gate to accommodate another 2000 Hertha fans. The same will be done for the home game against Bayern as well. It should be a good atmosphere for both games.   The extra tickets go on sale on Wednesday 12/02/2014 - I don't expect them to hang around very long as everyone will want one!

In the winter break Hertha have three friendlies to play.  The first against FC Aarau from the Swiss top tier,  The second against Hannover '96 and last but not least - Gladbach

The game against FC Aarau ended a 1:1 draw after Ronny initially put Hertha ahead

In the second of the three matches it ended up another draw but this time without any goals at all - 0:0

The last of the three matches in Belek is to be played on Wednesday.  Will it be Ronny v Raffael?  Well Ronny played but it didn't end well for Hertha with the final score being 3:0. Best leave losses like that for friendlies . . Keep our powder dry for the Rückrunde!

I was in Berlin for a week over new year and was able to go to the first training session for Hertha at the Schenckendorffplatz training ground on Friday.  The weather has been unseasonably warm in Berlin so far this winter but the players were still pretty well wrapped up against the cold.  To be fair I was feeling a little cool after standing around with my camera for over two hours!
Here are a few of the photos that I took - for those interested in that kind of thing they were taken with a Nikon 3200 with a DX NIKKOR 55-300mm lens and very cold fingers!