Starke: “A club is always bigger than its players”

Dear fans of TSG,

After a hectic and emotional few weeks, things have finally calmed down for myself and my family. We have just returned from our holiday in Sardinia, and in a few weeks I will start pre-season training for the new Bundesliga campaign. But since this will not be with Hoffenheim, as has been the case in the past few years, I would like to use this opportunity to say a few words as my farewell to you.

First of all, none of you need think that you should have sympathy for me. The possibility of moving to Bayern was an extremely attractive one for me, both for footballing and financial reasons and I am very pleased with how things have turned out, regardless of how they happened. The transition will be more difficult for my wife and children that it will be for me, at least to begin with. More new surroundings, more new friends to make – it's extremely difficult when you've come from a place where you felt content. Hoffenheim and the area around it really have left their mark on us in the last two years and it hurts to leave, no question.

In the last few weeks I have been confused at how things have taken the course they have and why a new goalkeeper was signed to replace me. I say to you all now in complete honesty: I don't know exactly how many of you there are who share the same opinion. But sometimes developments may occur, the explanations for which are not always entirely satisfactory, especially not in this business. Yet none of this really matters. The club has made the decision and elected to go in a new direction. That is completely understandable.

Being a player in the Bundesliga is not an oasis of happiness. We are paid very well, but sometimes we have to deal with these changes, often at short notice, and we have to adapt to them. I made no secret at the fact that I would like to have stayed in Hoffenheim and I think most of you are aware of that. This is a special club and what has been achieved here is unique. And there is still an awful lot to come!

But I would ask all of you to stay as committed to and supportive of the club as ever, even though I am leaving. A club is always bigger than its players – at some time or another they will move on, but the club remains. We have all experienced it together in the past two years that things do not always run smoothly, neither at TSG not at any other club. But it is in exactly these sorts of times that the guys on the pitch need fans who believe in them and who support them through thick and thin.

I would ask you to please remember that life often throws up reunions, sometimes completely unexpectedly. And so perhaps we'll see each other again. My family and I will continue to carry the club and this wonderful place in our hearts.

Stay true to TSG!

Yours,

Tom Starke