By Paul Gorgas and Roberto Lamprecht
Hertha and there is trembling for the license for the second division. By June 7th at 3.30 p.m., the Berliners should prove to the DFL that they are also economically capable of acting in the coming season.
The sticking point is the 40 million euro bond due in the fall. The DFL demands additional security, for example in the form of a bank guarantee – until recently it was unclear how Hertha intends to meet these demands.
Club President Kay Bernstein (42) gave the all-clear in an interview with “Deutschlandfunk” published at the weekend. The club boss: “It’s not like the lights go out here or we can no longer pay our bills. We’re a long way from that. But if building block one of the basis for the remediation is the license, we first have to prove that we have done our homework.”
And according to Bernstein, Hertha can submit it to the DFL on Wednesday with a clear conscience. The president is hopeful: “We have all the documents together and are certain that we have met the requirements of the DFL, i.e. that we have got the ability to act, liquidity and debt under control. We say: We’ll get the license and start in the second division.”
Bernstein continues: “It wasn’t quite so clear a few weeks ago. We honestly communicated that we have concerns and that the license will not be a sure-fire success.”
So the homework is done – but Bernstein already warns that the wait could still go on: “If one or the other doesn’t work out, we have a deferral until the 21st. In a perfect world we’ll get it done this week, and otherwise we have detention until June 21 like at school.”
The DFL granted the deadline extension until June 21 because Hertha had asked its bondholders to extend the repayment by two years. They have until June 19 to vote on the club’s proposal.
But in terms of planning security and the tight time frame until the start of the season on July 28, Hertha must hope to get the green light from the DFL this week.