By Robert Matiebel and Paul Gorgas
Hertha’s crash into the 2nd division is almost sealed. How the club wants to position itself for an uncertain future, the fans wanted answers to these burning questions at the general meeting in the Messe Berlin from the club’s top management around President Kay Bernstein (42) and Managing Director Thomas Herrich (59).
But when it came to finances, the almost 1,500 members in the mammoth event, which lasted around seven and a half hours, initially only heard a lot of non-binding statements – until a member asked Managing Director Herrich directly: “Is there a possibility that Hertha will not receive a license?”
Herrich hesitates briefly, takes a deep breath and replies: “Yes. If we cannot prove economic viability, we will not obtain a license. We are working flat out and confident that we will get the license.”
For the first time, a Hertha boss speaks out what all fans fear. With more than 90 million euros in liabilities, including the due repayment of a 40 million euro bond in the fall, the license is shaking enormously.
At the DFL, Herrich has to prove that Hertha can finance the coming season. The DFL wants to see a bank guarantee for this. The club has already lodged a complaint against an assessment by the league association about Hertha’s solvency. So it’s hard haggling.
How could it come to this? President Bernstein sees the culprits in the past, attacks ex-financial boss Ingo Schiller (57): “The financial situation where we are today is his responsibility.”
Bernstein continues: “250 million euros were burned. A madness that must never happen again.”
Ex-investor Lars Windhorst (46) also dismissed Bernstein mockingly: “We want to close the Windhorst file – and thank you for your money.” The entrepreneur had invested 375 million euros. The sporting success has been missing for years.
Bernstein was confronted with his colleagues on the presidium and the boss of the supervisory board, Klaus Brüggemann, with motions to vote them out – but the meeting did not allow a vote on this at short notice.
With loud cheers, Zecke Neuendorf (48/Director Academy/Licensing Area) continued to settle accounts with the predecessors and attacked ex-manager Fredi Bobic (51): “I’m not happy with the squad. We had five transfer windows. I think of the time when Fredi Bobic kicked me out (as an assistant coach; ed.) – hello, I’m back. It was just waiting for the first mistake to kick us out.”
Zecke on the future: “Every player can be sold because nobody has proven that they are suitable for the first division.”
Instead, he wants to go the Berlin way with many talents in the future. Zecke: “We don’t want a squad with mercenaries, you have to earn the jersey. The rule is: if we can’t find a better one, we’ll take a player from our academy from now on.”