Thorsten Fink believes Hamburg have the potential to become one of Germany's strongest clubs again, after being officially presented as the new coach of the northern Germany outfit today.

Fink has taken over at the side currently sitting at the foot of the Bundesliga after leaving Basel, who he had led to back-to-back Swiss titles in the last two years.

Rather than answering questions about the Swiss side's hopes against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League tomorrow night, Fink met the media at another press conference today, where he unveiled his plans to restore the club to their former glories.

"I have a great deal of faith in my team and I believe they can do a lot better than they are currently doing," he said. "If I was not so convinced, then I would not have left a Champions League participant to come here. Basel are a great club, but I want to be successful and I know what the best thing is for me and Hamburg are a big club."

Basel are a great club, but I want to be successful and I know what the best thing is for me and Hamburg are a big club.
Thorsten Fink, new Hamburg coach

However, Fink knows that aiming for Champions League football again next season would be getting ahead of himself, with Hamburg's priority at present to leave the relegation zone. Only then can he start thinking about where the club's potential can take them.

"I am not even considering what will be happening in ten years," he continued. "I don't want to predict what could happen. I am here at a club which is very, very special for me. We need to think on a game-by-game basis. We want to win the next game and that is the current task."

And for the Hamburg players' sake, only a win is conceivable against Wolfsburg next weekend. "I just don't do losing," he warned. "That is the way it is - [losing] makes me very mad. When I was at Bayern [as a player], we wanted to win every single game, even if we were playing in Madrid.

"We have got to have that mentality here too, although we have also got to be realistic and accept that it will take a while before we are hunting down Bayern. But the last thing I have in my life is fear."

Advice from Arnesen, Cardoso
Fink arrived with one of his assistants in Basel, Patrick Rahmen, to take over from Frank Arnesen, who led Hamburg to only their second win of the season yesterday in Freiburg.

He had stood in for just one game after Rodolfo Cardoso had taken the reins from the sacked Michael Oenning last month, and Fink will be seeking advice from both of them in his first few weeks in charge.

"My contact with Cardoso will be very, very strong," he said. "I will be calling him daily. Frank made some excellent substitutions yesterday and I will often be asking him who I should bring on if we are losing a match."