Eactually everything should be different and finally better again. Hannover 96 started the 2022/23 season with a fundamentally renewed team. With Stefan Leitl, the second division football club has secured a communicative coach who spreads a touch of optimism. But the sporting aspect of the Lower Saxony is – once again – overshadowed by the legal aspect.
On August 16, the district court in Hanover will discuss whether Martin Kind can remain the managing director of Hannover 96 Management GmbH. The differences between the parent club and the outsourced professional division have been a strain on cooperation at Hannover 96 for years. Now the dispute is coming to a head and can shake everything.
If you are a staunch fan of Hannover 96 and want to understand what is constantly being argued about in this club, you have to deal intensively with the intricacies of company, commercial and corporate law. Under Kind’s reign, an extremely complex network of companies has developed over the past few years. Opinions are divided as to whether the multimillion-dollar entrepreneur has developed Hannover 96 further or put it in chains.
“Illegal Operations”
The board of directors of the parent club is currently of the opinion that Kind should urgently be deposed as managing director of the professional area. “Mr. Kind personally,” says a warning letter to the members of the association, “created the important reasons that make it impossible for him to continue managing the company.” Withholding of agreed donations and loans, invoicing without a contractual basis plus a lack of Cooperation and communication: The allegations made against the child are serious and will be examined in court.
Until that happens, the 78-year-old can continue to run the business thanks to a court order. Anyone who obstructs him even risks a fine of 250,000 euros. In a sharply worded statement, which Kind made public on Monday, the actions of the volunteer board of directors are classified as “illegal operations” and “discrediting allegations”. One can deduce from such words: child is pissed off and fights back with full force.
Martin Kind does not want to say goodbye to Hanover.
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Image: dpa
The tug of war for power at Hannover 96 escalated last week with an announcement. Flashback to March 2019: During a turbulent general meeting, the child at Hannover 96, who had been almost everything decisive for two and a half decades, had been slowed down in his work. A strong opposition no longer wanted to accept that investors and shareholders run their club or its professional department according to their own taste.
Representatives of the members and fans took power on the club’s board of directors. Since then there has been grumbling behind the scenes because highly contrary views cannot be reconciled. Kind follows this logic: Whoever orders and pays for the band should also be able to determine their music. More and more members and child opponents find this presumptuous. When the dispute culminates in court in two weeks, it will once again be a highly philosophical question as to how much influence investors should have on the fortunes of a professional football club.
renunciation of grassroots democracy
The difference between the people involved on the club and money side could hardly be greater in Hanover. With the former fan representative Sebastian Kramer, a quite reasonable man has made it to the top of the sports club Hannover 96, who represents the normal and down-to-earth. When the father of a family commutes to work and his club by S-Bahn, he greets us in a friendly manner. He sees himself as an advocate for the approximately 21,000 members of the club and wants to prevent the fate of Hannover 96 from being determined by financiers and the parent club being deprived of its rights to the club brand.
On the other hand, there is the hearing aid entrepreneur Kind, who drives to work and to the stadium in fast sports cars and is happy to do without grass-roots democracy. In his perception, Hannover 96 is more of a brand and company than a club. Kind knows that Dirk Roßmann, the founder of a nationwide drugstore chain, has a solvent partner at his side. Both are quite sure: It can’t be right that normal fans as members have a say in what moves and enables the money they invest.
Dirk Rossmann is financially involved with the Hanoverians.
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Image: dpa
It remains unclear how dangerous the escalation of the latest trench warfare is. The board of directors of the parent club is firmly convinced that Kind has violated contracts with his actions in recent months and is even endangering the license that makes Hannover 96 part of professional football with decisions that go against the statutes.
Kind claims the opposite, insists on a judicial clarification and threatens the board members of the association with consequences under civil law. So far, neither side has presented concrete evidence or reliable figures.
With every further legal dispute, the danger increases that Kind will lose interest in Hannover 96 in view of the strong headwind and withdraw as a shareholder and patron. His critics see the club in a dangerous child stranglehold. Dissolving the dependency on him and the almost inscrutable company construct could take years and endanger the existence of the entire association.
With one short break, Kind has been looking after Hannover 96 since 1997. It is thanks to his tireless commitment that there is a modern stadium in Hannover for up to 49,000 spectators. Sporting highs up to the Europa League, two relegations from the first division and controversial disputes were his companions. The number of members has increased significantly since taking office. The number of his critics too.
