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Transfers? Jochen Schneider must be “creative”
Schalke 04 has to get creative due to financial cuts in the planning for the coming season. Sports director Jochen Schneider announces that the Köngis blue will look around “other shelves” in the future.
Schalke 04 can breathe a sigh of relief. The clammy club has officially received a guarantee from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The topic is controversial, but the club can no longer do otherwise.
Es is a brief statement, but its content is of great importance for the future of the traditional club from the Ruhr area. “FC Schalke 04 can confirm that on Monday (July 27th) the club received approval from the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Finance to issue a state guarantee,” it said in the statement published by the Bundesliga club on Tuesday.
This should put an end to the worries about the economic survival of the royal blue. The guarantee, which the Handelsblatt had reported a month ago and on which the state government had agreed weeks ago, but which had not yet been officially confirmed, is intended to secure loans for livelihoods – the figure is 30 to 40 million euros – be secured.
This seems to ensure that Schalke, who had total liabilities of EUR 197 million at the end of 2019, can avoid liquidity bottlenecks despite various uncertainties due to the ongoing Corona crisis.
From Schalke no further comments on details
“The S04 applied for this guarantee in the expectation that the decision would not be treated differently than business enterprises from other areas. FC Schalke is aware of the responsibility associated with such a guarantee, ”the statement added. The association will not comment on further details.
In fact, controversial debates had arisen in recent weeks over the question of whether the state should put troubled professional football clubs out of the way with taxpayers’ money. State guarantees for Bundesliga clubs are not uncommon, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia – however, they were usually awarded to secure stadium buildings or conversions. NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet said at the end of June that there would be “no Lex Schalke”.
The loans, which were partly negotiated by the former Schalke CFO Peter Peters and which can now flow, give the Schalke room to start with. At the same time, another cost reduction is being worked on. The salary volume, which was just under 120 million in the past financial year 2019, is to be further reduced. The club, which missed the qualification for the European Cup for the second time in a row, wants to rely more on players from their own youth in the future.
To what extent players have to be sold is currently not foreseeable. It is quite possible that there could still be significant departures: Hertha BSC should be interested in midfielder Weston McKennie, the new English champions Liverpool FC in central defender Ozan Kabak.
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