By Roberto Lamprecht, Paul Gorgas and Carsten Priefer
Now there is a face for Hertha’s tough savings hammer!
The free lunch was canceled for employees of the academy, the free soft drinks were taken away from employees in the office, and the minibuses of some junior teams were even rationalized away. There were also various layoffs – at Hertha, after relegation to the 2nd division, no stone was left unturned.
This new chief reorganizer is behind these measures: Wolfram Simon-Schröter (42) – CEO of the Zeitfracht Group. He now runs the Hertha renovation as a part-time job. This is reported by the business magazine “Capital”.
Unusual: Normally, football clubs use management consultancies for restructuring. But Hertha asked the prominent and renovation-experienced Berlin businessman, who almost two weeks ago watched the test match at BFC Dynamo next to Hertha President Kay Bernstein (42).
The ex-banker has been working as an external consultant for the blue and whites for several months. He now acts as head of a newly established restructuring team with several employees. However, he was not introduced to most of the branch office employees until the beginning of July.
The Zeitfracht Group, which belongs to Simon Schröter’s wife Jasmin Schröter, had recently discovered sport as a business area. Since June 2022, Martin Bader (55) – formerly at Hertha from 1995 to 2003, among other things as the right hand of ex-manager Dieter Hoeneß (70) – has also been working there as director of sports for the Zeitfracht Group.
The mission seems clear: get Hertha back on financial track. Because Hertha has slipped deeper and deeper into the crisis in recent years, among other things due to too many expensive transfers, Zoff with ex-investor Lars Windhorst (paid 374 million to Hertha – all gone!) and the Corona crisis as well as the rigorous ones Measures against the virus.
The financial injection of 100 million euros from the new US financial investor 777 Partners will keep Hertha afloat in the short term, but 78.8 percent of the Hertha shares of the KGaA had to be sold for this. A very high price in the long term!
Hertha’s managing director Thomas Herrich had recently announced a wave of layoffs and explained: “Hertha is still in intensive care. Now we have to make sure that we get the patient to the normal ward.”
The employees of Hertha BSC GmbH & Co KGaA for the works meeting on Tuesday. Here an electoral board was elected. A works council election will soon follow Photo: Olaf Selchow
The savior is said to be Wolfram Simon-Schröter, who has revived insolvent companies such as the fashion chain Adler, the book wholesaler KNV and the chocolate manufacturer Leysieffer in the past.
Herrich says about Capital: “Wolfram Simon-Schröter has already successfully restructured and reorganized many companies. This is a huge opportunity for us. We now have the opportunity to put the company on a sound footing and to do business properly.”
Short smoking break from 1.15 p.m.: Here the votes for the electoral board were counted. Hertha’s employees want to protect themselves better against possible termination Photo: Olaf Selchow
The new chief renovator says that Hertha is “an affair of the heart” for him, he himself is also a member of the Hertha club. According to his own statements, Simon-Schröter only receives an expense allowance for the costs incurred for his part-time job.
The cost-cutting measures at Hertha include severe job cuts in the workforce. Hertha’s employees (about 150 people were employed there before the descent) are concerned. You are in the process of setting up a works council with the help of the Verdi union.
More than 80 Hertha BSC employees flocked to the works meeting on Tuesday Photo: Olaf Selchow
According to BZ information, around 80 Hertha employees flocked to the Verdi house on Paula-Thiede-Ufer from 11 a.m. on Tuesday, despite the holiday season, where the union had invited to a works meeting.
This elected board will invite to a works council election at another time. Then it will be more difficult for the employer Hertha to give notice to its own employees in the future.
Hertha’s employees defend themselves bravely! Also visible on a huge poster on Tuesday in Hanns-Braun-Strasse just in front of the office. There it was written in blue Hertha lettering: “Solidarity with all employees. Works council now!”