The times of Rudi Assauer or Clemens Tönnies, who, as the “strong men”, have managed the fortunes of the club for many years, are to be replaced by a modern management team that takes the employees with them and no longer confronts them with facts that have long been decided. Joint development of solutions and majority decisions should be the evidence of the work of the board in the future.
Football is being discussed again
“Schalke have to be up front again, have to lead the way, have to have the courage to do it and have to be a beacon”, said Schroeder. “We have to define what Schalke stand for and what Schalke should look like in three, five and ten years.” Schröder sees his area of responsibility more in the development of a long-term orientation. However, sport is and will remain the top priority in the football club, which has around 160,000 members.
Promotion within the next three years at the latest is the primary goal of all board members. This is being worked on at full speed. Provisions have been made for this period, the budget has been set aside. 20 million euros are available for this, one for the 2nd league quite remarkable budget. Formerly in the Bundesliga, Schalke had calculated a good 80 million euros. “It’s good that we have security for this period”says Knäbel, who is glad that “Football is finally being discussed here again and Schalke no longer have to be ashamed of their team”.
Schalke must move forward, also in order to improve the financially precarious situation with around 150 million euros in financial liabilities as quickly as possible. Because Schalke has to pay interest for this amount, which significantly limits the scope for action. “We only spend the money we have”, says CFO Rühl-Hamers. Especially in professional football and also for Schalke, this is an almost daring approach in view of the reality of the past few years.
Sponsor harbors potential for conflict
But not only sport has been presenting the club with major challenges for some time. Two other issues have had great potential for conflict in Gelsenkirchen for years. On the one hand, the discussion about the close partnership with “Gazprom Germania”, the German branch of the Russian gas company, would be in the hands of the state. The longstanding sponsorship activity, which has always been controversial among some fan groups and members, is currently being added another facet in the course of the political situation in Ukraine and Russia.
“We have a long-standing and reliable partner in GazpromSchröder says quite monosyllabically on this subject. One thing is clear: the company pays Schalke around nine million euros a year in league two, making it the largest sponsor of the financially troubled club. In the Bundesliga, the amount would probably be 15 million euros plus three million euros However, should the situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border deteriorate further in the coming weeks and months, the club’s management is unlikely to be able to avoid in-depth discussions.
DFL requirements can be met
And the topic of spinning off the football department into a corporation in order to generate as much equity as possible from investors is viewed particularly critically by at least as many members and fans. “The topic of spin-off is currently not on our agenda”Schröder is also extremely reserved.
On the one hand, because the starting position for a share sale as a second division club is anything but optimal and would not flush nearly as much money into the coffers as as a successful first division club. On the other hand, those responsible would like to avoid these discussions in these difficult times, when Schalke are struggling every day to create the financial conditions for quieter times.
As in the previous year, Schalke must again expect a liquidity requirement as part of the licensing by the German Football League (DFL). “I can say that we will fulfill them again this year”, says Rühl-Hamers. Schalke are in the middle of taking a completely new path for the club.