Actually, he “didn’t want to say anything about Corona,” said Dirk Zingler, President of Union Berlin, on Thursday shortly before the start of the general meeting of his association. But? He would rather talk about the “most successful sporting” and “most economically valuable” period in the history of his Köpenick club. Union was in sixth place in the table on the eve of RB Leipzig’s visit to the league (Friday 8.30 p.m.), is still promisingly represented in the DFB Cup and in the new European Conference League, and the economic situation is also satisfactory. But: Corona! Zingler, 57, is easily flammable on this subject.
“We are in total chaos, in a catastrophic state,” Zingler shouted on Thursday, “I couldn’t imagine how badly this country can be run.” One of the current occasions that make him flush with anger are the debates about the full stadium at the Cologne game against Gladbach in the previous week. According to Zingler, the criticism is not about avoiding infections, but only about avoiding certain images and alleged moods in the country: “We get upset about a full stadium. But we don’t get upset about long queues Vaccination centers with too little capacity and too little vaccine. “
Zingler finds it outrageous that Germany is watching the pandemic as 30,000 underpaid nurses have to look for new jobs and 6,000 intensive care beds are lost. “The state could have said immediately: All medical staff, all nurses get the same gross. Perhaps then fewer nurses would have been lost.” Elsewhere, however, you could see what can be implemented in no time. Because there was not a second hesitation in paying “billions for lost sales to companies”. The state, scolded the Union boss, had to “first do its homework and only then restrict people’s basic rights”.
On the Kimmich case, Zingler says: “Words fail me”
Zingler said that, as before, he would support every measure that has been decided: “Believe me, we want to avoid infections!” He wants to “act as a multiplier” for the people for whom he feels responsible as a private entrepreneur and as a club boss. Only: That is no longer possible, because there is a lack of a clear, understandable policy. What is communicated on talk shows and on the part of politicians does not coincide with the regulations that are to be implemented: “The responsibility is passed on to the people.”
Zingler also recalled the outrage that the former FC Bayern CEO Rummenigge once caused when he suggested vaccinating Bundesliga professionals as an example: “18 months later, a single member of a professional group with a vaccination rate well over 90 percent is pilloried because he has not yet been vaccinated, “said Zingler, alluding to Bayern professional Joshua Kimmich:” Words fail me. “
At least Zingler can be pleased that the previous federal government is leaving. Because in the future, he had recently noticed a certain degree of professionalism, which was also due to the fact that “the clown from Munich” was not there and “the.” image– The newspaper (from confidential circles) no longer receives any news “. Zingler left open whether he meant Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder with his description of the clown – but with a smug and ironic undertone.
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