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A typical Schalke picture in 2020
Photo:
Tim Rehbein / imago images / RHR-FOTO
Jochen Schneider had a simple answer to a difficult question: How, please, should all the big problems that are currently bothering FC Schalke 04 be solved?
"It's only possible with each other," said the sports director of the district club on Wednesday.
A day after Schalke had fallen apart even further than it was already.
Since several players are said to have violated the principle of cooperation, it was very turbulent on Tuesday at the office on Ernst-Kuzorra-Weg.
The professionals Nabil Bentaleb and Amine Harit, the best offensive player in the club, have been suspended until further notice.
The contract with striker Vedad Ibisevic will be terminated on December 31 after he had a training skirmish with assistant coach Naldo on Sunday.
Squad planner Michael Reschke is also leaving the club because the previously intact relationship with Schneider has meanwhile been strained.
Reschke's tasks will soon be taken over by a group that will also include former Schalke professional Mike Büskens.
In addition to the existing financial misery and the club's sporting crisis - Schalke has now been waiting for a win across all seasons for 24 games - there have been explosive forces in the interpersonal area that are now clearly moving forward.
Schalke, a club that can develop a special power due to its history and following of the fans, suddenly seems as if the club is much less than the sum of its individual parts.
And the question arises: How should that be enough to stay in the league?
"The image that is portrayed outside is devastating, we have to take countermeasures," said Schneider.
Split office
The 50-year-old's motto of togetherness in the fight to stay up in the league fails at his own office door.
The club's control center is considered to be divided.
On the one hand, those who follow the board unconditionally, and on the other, those who question and set conditions.
"It is now enough to report factual doubts to get on the list of unpleasant," one employee told SPIEGEL.
There is also less and less interaction with the fans.
FC Schalke 04 is a registered club with around 160,000 members and many more fans.
Appeals to steer through the most difficult sporting and economic times together are understandable.
The only thing missing was the message that many fan groups have been waiting for months: Take us with you!
Tell us, what was your plan!
Tell us where the shoe pinches!
These demands arose after the resignation of the chairman of the supervisory board, Clemens Tönnies, at the beginning of July.
You will continue to be ignored how fan representatives affirm in discussions and publish them on the Internet.
»Changes«, »restructuring«, »togetherness« - buzzwords that have been used by Schneider and his board colleague Alexander Jobst over the past few days without even beginning to fill them with substance.
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Sports director Jochen Schneider: a devastating picture
Photo: Elmar Kremser / imago images / Sven Simon
On the extremely sensitive topic of a possible outsourcing of the professional department, Schneider said on Wednesday that the club would only present the concept when it was finished.
»The topic is also totally uninteresting to me at the moment.
It's not about a legal form, it's just about the team, ”said the sports director.
»Statutory questions are not my subject.
My topic is the next five games, ”he replied when asked when and in what form the general meeting would be held.
According to the statutes, it should be done by December 31, and there is also no corona emergency ordinance.
The leadership of FC Schalke has lost sight of the FC Schalke sovereign.
86 million euros in liabilities due in one year
The sporting and economic problems may also obstruct the view: Schalke are bottom of the league table and have two difficult games ahead of them at Borussia Mönchengladbach and against Bayer Leverkusen.
Three players who could be an asset to the team near their top form have been - at least temporarily - removed from the squad since Tuesday.
Central defenders Salif Sané and Gonçalo Paciência have asked doctors they trust abroad for advice because of knee injuries.
They may be longer.
Players like Matija Nastasić, Benjamin Stambouli, Kilian Ludewig and Bastian Oczipka (also currently ailing) are out of shape or even overwhelmed.
Coach Baum has not yet achieved his goal in his plan to win a game again through increased self-confidence.
“It's all about staying up,” Schneider said the obvious.
From an economic point of view, a decline would be a catastrophe.
The group interim report published in September for the first six months of the financial year shows a good 86 million euros in liabilities that are due in less than a year.
That is about half of what Schalke wants to earn in the current financial year.
The association needed a guarantee from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for a loan in the summer.
It will be difficult to find new donors or other sources of income.
Especially since there will be at most a partial admission of viewers by the end of the season.
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