Schaaf felt “tremendous anger”
© Imago
Transfer negotiations can be tough, lengthy and full of stumbling blocks. Professionals sometimes want to force their change to their desired club and accept plenty of trouble with their current employer, gamble away from the fans or worries with their superiors. Transfer market looks at transfers of the past that were characterized by loud background noises – with a new episode!
When FC Schalke 04 used several times in Bremen in the early 2000s, not only those responsible and fans of the green-whites were angry, but also a transfer market founder and Werder supporter Matthias Seidel, who quickly took the profile of the miners from his side and caused turmoil. Two decades later, the trouble has long been forgotten, including Seidel and the royal blue peace – in autumn 2003 the world looked very different.
The SVW swept through the Bundesliga in 2003/04 and was even to get the double at the end of a brilliant season, for which defense chief Mladen Krstajic and the later top scorer Aílton were responsible. The experienced professionals were the bulwark and heart of a homogeneous team that taught the competition fear. What should happen? Schalke and his powerful manager Rudi Assauer did not want to stand by and grabbed. Only at the beginning of October 2003 the transfer-free commitment of the 29-year-old Krstajic was announced at the end of the season, a day later it was clear that Aílton (30) would also move to Gelsenkirchen for free. A blow in the middle of the Bremen face. The Serb Krstajic tied to S04 for four years, his Brazilian teammate for two years plus option. “Schalke looted league leaders Werder,” headlined “Der Spiegel”.
“I don’t think the way this change has expired is fair. This is a bitter blow for fans and also for us,” commented Werder’s sports director Klaus Allofs the departures. “Of course we are disappointed, but also about the Schalke approach. Especially in the collaboration of Schalke manager Rudi Assauer with Werder Bremen there have been different rules in the past.” The maker of the royal blue had spent many years as a player and manager at Werder and, according to Bremen, failed to inform his ex-club before completing the deal. Werder’s CEO Jürgen L. Born said: “There were friendships. There is an interpersonal relationship between Dr. Böhmert (head of supervisory board; i.e. red.) And Assauer, who has existed for 30 years. And then it is no way to sit in the stadium on Sunday, drink the beers for free, to pick the players and to announce the matter in this way.”
Maden Krstajic (left) and Aílton stood on the square for Werder Bremen 131 times and were sensationally Doublesieger in 2004
The later Bremen master coach Thomas Schaaf revealed: “I feel an enormous anger that rises in me.” And: “It is absolutely disappointing what is going on here. We are all shocked, the fans, the club. You can see what would be permanently possible with this team, and then two top performers break away.” Because: “It is frustrating, you train people and then the nasty mammon comes.” Schalke’s salary dimensions were one number too big for the Weser club, for which it shouldn’t be enough to go “to the limit of the possible” (allofs). “I negotiated with Werder, but I was not offered what I am worth, after all I have to think of my family,” revealed Aílton at a press conference. Between 4 million and 4.5 million euros are said to have been possible on Schalke for the clipper. Krstajic waved one million euros more than Bremen. “Schalke can be compared with very few clubs in the league. For me, this is an absolute top address,” said Aílton.
Aílton and Krstajic wandered off: Werder Sauer, Schalke holds against it
“We have to explain to the fans and make it clear to the players that it will continue. The transfers remain a bitter aftertaste,” stated Allofs. Schaaf warned in the direction of the two painful departures: “You are paid for by us and are not allowed to let yourself hang.” The mission was clearly fulfilled with the championship and the cup win.
Schalke rejected the allegations of the angry competition. “This is laughable. We behaved fairly and properly and did not bought the players from ongoing contracts. The Bremen were informed, then the transfers were made public,” replied Assauer. The joy of twice the reinforcement from the north prevailed anyway. “Aílton is exactly the man who fits our requirement profile, and he is even more dangerous than Emile Mpenza.” The quick Belgian had left the club towards Liège in summer.
Coach Jupp Heynckes also said goodbye: “Our intention is to bring more quality and more competition to the squad. We succeeded. Aílton is one of the best strikers in the Bundesliga and has continuously demonstrated his class in recent years.” The 34-year-old Austrian no-name attacker Edi Schlieder had not fulfilled the expectations.
It was certainly not the first time that Schalke found suitable new additions to the Weser: In 2002 goalkeeper Frank Rost changed pages for 6.25 million euros, in 1998 it was keeper Oliver Reck for 700,000 euros.
Neither Krstajic nor Aílton has fallen slightly from Bremen. “When Maden told me that he made this change, there were tears in his eyes,” Bremen’s coach Schaaf looked back in the “Sportschau” podcast “The Werder fairy tale 2004”. And the attacker would have loved to decide in retrospect. “The season was not over yet, because Aílton tried everything again to reverse the signature at Schalke. But of course that was no longer possible,” revealed Manager Allofs.
A drama developed, but without a happy ending. According to Werder-Boss Born, Aílton was presented with this, afterwards Born grabbed the listener and told Assauer of Aílton. “If someone doesn’t want to go to Schalke, he doesn’t have to go,” the Schalke boss then had himself quoted. So another back door for the Brazilian? “We told him: ‘You can have our old contract and we do so and so much on top, do you agree?’,” Reveal Born. Aílton apparently gave his approval and Assauer would also agree to a contract termination. But the striker hesitated too long. Born said: “Then I said: ‘If you do not sign the contract within two days, you can buy a moped and drive to Schalke.'” The U -turn failed to do. Because Aílton stood for his yes for Schalke. “My father always told me: ‘No matter how prominent you are, no matter how full your account is-a man, a word.'” Aílton’s Schalke contract could have been declared invalid because certain conditions were not met, at least the former Werder managing director Manfred Müller claimed.
The coach and his scorer: Thomas Schaaf (left) used Aílton 204 times to Werder Bremen, the Brazilian thanked the trust with 104 goals and 45 templates
The trouble because of both transfers was so great that even the German football league dealt with the case and wanted to investigate against Schalke. “We have a letter from the DFL. The league wants information about the process and we will be very happy to provide information,” said Bremen spokesman Michael Rudolph. Accordingly, S04 Werder should have informed at the beginning of the contractual acts. “This definitely didn’t happen in the case of Ailton, so our reactions were so violent,” said SVW sports director Allofs. Schalke’s spokesman Gerd Voss stayed relaxed and emphasized: “We let it come to us. We behaved correctly.” And according to Assauer, it would have been “negligent from us not to try these players” anyway. But only through a hint of the player broker did the matter become concrete: “The advisors of the players had gone on the market, and so we got wind of it too. We quickly acted and did everything clear. We then informed the club, the DFB and the DFL.” The follow -up tickets from Bremen could not understand Assauer, because “I have already lost players”.
Schalke trainer Heynckes: Werder Bremen’s complaints “amateurish”
S04 coach Heynckes, who stated in a “world” interview, had no understanding of the Zetern from the north: “I can’t understand that, that’s even amateurish. Both players were on the market. It is also not the case that we contacted the players, but they were offered to us by their consultants.” From a “emotional point of view”, however, he could understand the complaints from the SVW. “On the other hand, the gentlemen in Bremen know as well as we do that that were normal transfers. Werder had also had a long time to extend with both. So I don’t think the Bremen can do it.” There could be no question of excessive salaries on Schalke. “I can only laugh about the numbers that can be heard from Bremen. No utopian salaries are paid in Schalke,” said Heynckes.
After the stunk between Werder Bremen and Schalke, the managers Klaus Allofs (left) and Rudi Assauer gave their hands in January 2005
Krstajic’s time at Schalke was more sustainable than that of Aílton, the defense lawyer played 183 games from 2004 to 2009, in which he got nine goals and six templates – after which he ended his career at Partizan Belgrade. Aílton moved to Besiktas after just one year with 20 goals (six assists) in 44 games, but he was nowhere more sedentary, such as the accumulation of short chapters in Istanbul, Hamburg, Belgrade, Zurich, Donetsk, Altach, Campina Grande, Chongqing, Uerdingen, Oberneuland, Americana and Bingen. “If I hadn’t switched from Schalke to Istanbul in July 2005, my career would have been different and, above all, better,” said Aílton 2020. Or ideally not from Werder to Schalke?
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