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Investor Lars Windhorst at the Hertha general meeting
Photo: IMAGO/Juergen Engler / IMAGO/Nordphoto
Lars Windhorst didn't get a chance to speak at all.
The investor stood at the lectern for a few minutes with a slight smile, and the entrepreneur repeatedly started – but each time his sentences were drowned out by the whistles and boos of the Hertha BSC fans.
Two of them even hoisted a banner on which Windhorst's likeness was crossed out.
It was indicative of a heated general meeting, at the end of which Windhorst was given ten minutes to address Hertha supporters.
“Windhorst out!” chanted some, some of whom insulted Windhorst personally.
He could hardly finish a sentence without a break.
But he wasn't intimidated.
»Whether most people like it or not: I am here as the majority owner.
Windhorst out - that doesn't actually work.
I cannot be voted out and my shares are not for sale,” said Windhorst.
He later added, 'I'm not going away.
That's not possible at all - the next ten, 20 years.«
"Do everything we can to get to the top"
Windhorst also promised new money for the future and formulated his vision.
"I want, that's the only goal, for Hertha BSC to be extremely successful.
That's my goal,« says Windhorst: »I only stand for one direction: to do everything to ensure that we get to the top.«
"We are the most embarrassing club in all of Germany," a member had previously spoken out.
This resounding verbal slap was representative of a series of angry verbal contributions.
The allegations were mismanagement, control failure and paralyzing standstill.
Meeting leader Dirk Lentfer had to intervene to calm things down several times.
Sports manager Fredi Bobic tried to calm things down after the near descent.
“I take full responsibility for that.
We made mistakes,' he said.
The fact that Hertha needed three coaches to remain in the league was a "personal defeat".
Interim President resigned
In a 20-minute speech, Bobic condemned internal trench warfare.
"I have no idea how many false reports I deliberately produced to see where the internal holes are," said Bobic, who demanded unity: "In the end, it will only work together.
If we do it against each other, we will tear each other apart.' After his speech, he received a great deal of applause.
However, it will be a long way to the desired restart.
First of all, the Gegenbauer successor will be elected at an extraordinary general meeting on June 26th.
It will also need a replacement for interim President Thorsten Manske, who resigned with immediate effect after a weak result (64.2 percent against him) in a motion to be voted out.
However, the super meltdown, the complete deselection of the presidium, which would have placed the association before the provisional inability to act, remained.
Fabian Drescher, Anne Jiingermann, Peer Mock striker, Ingmar Pering and Norbert Sauer survived the vote.
aha/sid/dpa