Philip Holzer specifies the line on the Supervisory Board

AOn Tuesday, Philip Holzer, the new supervisory board chairman of Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG, gave the public a little insight into how the Bundesliga club will henceforth structure the contracts with its players. In the future, “a pandemic clause” will be incorporated into every agreement, the 54-year-old announced. In times of the Corona crisis, the association had to be prepared for all eventualities.

But when Holzer’s presentation to the media came up for discussion with head coach Adi Hütter – the Frankfurt team would like to extend the cooperation with the Austrian prematurely beyond July 1, 2021 – the former investment banker was eloquently silent: “The contract from Adi The executive board signs Hütter. First of all, this is a decision by Fredi Bobic. And since we have a sports director who has twice been named Manager of the Year, it is in very good hands with him. It will stay there. “

The new supervisory board chairman, who has been elected for five years, wants to interfere as little as possible in the operational business of the Bundesliga soccer club. Nevertheless, he knows that after ten years as a member of the supervisory board, he will be “more in public” in the future. “This is a slightly different dimension now.”

Goldman Sachs’ former board member has experienced more uncomfortable tasks. “Some say I’m shy, I don’t think I am.” He “likes to stick to rules and agreements.” So my role was not to be in the front row, but rather to work together with my colleagues in the main committee, Wolfgang Steubing and club president Peter Fischer, with the utmost trust, ”said Holzer, who has risen to become the club’s second most powerful man behind Fischer. “The management of larger teams and groups is not entirely alien to me.”

Due to the fact that Steubing, which had over 150 contracts in its time, announced last year that he would leave his position in 2020, Fischer classifies the change of guard on the control committee as a “smooth transition”. Holzer was “always clearly informed about every project, every action and planning” and “worked incredibly well with the three colleagues from the board. Philip has proven that he is not only a team player and thoroughly a Eintrachtler with a deep passion, but also has great entrepreneurial know-how, ”said Fischer.

After years of cooperation, Holzer considers the committees of Eintracht Frankfurt to be “experienced in crises. We have a creative and innovative board of directors. ”Oliver Frankenbach (finance and human resources) and Axel Hellmann (marketing and communication) rate Holzer as follows:“ Oliver Frankenbach understands numbers like no other. And Axel Hellmann is the rocket on the board, the first ignition stage of which we started a few years ago. ”Nevertheless, the new head of the supervisory board warned that“ we must try to be even more creative and innovative in the future. We need to do more to adapt to changes in our environment, as we have done in the past five years. We have to modernize to keep traditional clubs competitive. ”

The people of Frankfurt are facing “big challenges”. You would have “exciting investment projects”. Some implementation, Holzer announced, could be postponed. But it is important “that we invest in our future. It will be a bigger balancing act the less liquidity and opportunities we have. “Holzer emphasized that Eintracht had put itself in a situation,” that we don’t have to sell players at any price. We will weigh up every possibility against each other ”.

Transfer market prices are likely to fall

In the transfer market, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board believes, “prices will go down”. Eintracht has already benefited from its good contacts in the economy. Holzer helped make Deutsche Bank or the stock exchange important club sponsors. “I have certainly made a little rapprochement with the Frankfurt financial center. Here and there I have a small share in one or the other deal. ”Holzer and the member of the Supervisory Board, Stephen Orenstein, founded the“ Friends of the Eagle GmbH ”.

Two years ago, with the help of this GmbH, both acquired part of the shares of another partner (“Friends of Eintracht Frankfurt AG”). This enabled Eintracht’s equity to be increased by around EUR 15 million. The search for investors with the “Eintracht gene” will continue. “We discuss this internally. In general, we know exactly what we want from potential investors,” said Holzer. “But it is not yet so far that there are names.”