Football general meeting
Merciless reckoning with the Hertha president
Status: 15.10.2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
A lot of headwind: Kay Bernstein
Quelle: picture alliance/Metodi Popow/M. Popow
It’s a busy time at the Hertha BSC general meeting. Supervisory Board Chairman Brüggemann resigns and settles accounts with President Bernstein. Unprofessionalism, nepotism, lies, self-interest – Brüggemann leaves nothing out.
At the beginning of the general meeting of second division soccer team Hertha BSC, Klaus Brüggemann announced his immediate resignation as chairman of the supervisory board. Vice President Fabian Drescher announced his decision on Sunday on behalf of the 64-year-old. There was also a motion to vote out of Brüggemann. Renate Döhmer also announced her resignation from the committee previously led by Brüggemann. Brüggemann was a member of the supervisory board for 23 years.
He had been head of the supervisory board since May last year and had survived a vote-out request at the general meeting in November. “Everyone who knows me well knows that I am not someone who ducks away or avoids constructive discussions,” Drescher quoted from Brüggemann’s letter: “It is also clear to me that I have to deal with those who defame me Resignation would do me a favor.” But it was about Hertha BSC and not about him. His resignation hurt him very much.
He also clearly targeted the club’s president, Kay Bernstein, who was unable to be there after an accident at the office and is still in the hospital. Brüggemann said, among other things, that Bernstein was overwhelmed by the presidency. And so his statement became a reckoning with the president. Brüggemann accused him of unprofessionalism, nepotism, lying and acting for his own benefit.
also read
Brüggemann wrote in his statement: “Kay Bernstein is certainly a nice person in his private life and he has provided outstanding support from the curve, but he is visibly overwhelmed with the presidency and especially with a possible paid CEO position. Value orientation, no nepotism, bringing people together is something you should not only propagate in the election campaign, but also live when you are in office and not counteract it.”
also read
Brüggemann just doesn’t address the rumor that has been swirling for weeks that Bernstein would like to swap his voluntary work for a paid position; he’s also sticking his finger in the wound about the choice of main sponsor. Before his election in the summer of 2022, Bernstein had rejected cooperation with betting providers and online casinos as one of his central points. Exactly such a company is now emblazoned on the Hertha jersey.
“Professional football doesn’t work as an alternative fan project”
There is also said to have been trouble behind the scenes about the Marius Gersbeck case. The goalkeeper had to appear in court for serious bodily harm after a nighttime brawl at the training camp. There was no dismissal, such as that received by manager Fredi Bobic because of a single answer to an interview. Like Bernstein, Gersbeck was a former fan and the two stood together in the curve.
also read
This makes Bernstein the first former Ultra to lead a major German professional club. But that doesn’t work, said Brüggemann: “I won’t bend my stance and if it’s all about hypocrisy, vanity and power of individuals and not about the club, I’m out.” In addition, professional football doesn’t really work as an alternative fan project.”
Insulting the shareholder, main sponsor and the associations naturally brings applause out of the curve, Brüggemann explained: “But even with justified critical questioning, it damages the cause and Hertha BSC. Running a club is very complex and you need an economic and sporting strategy and expertise.”
Klaus Brüggemann no longer heads Hertha’s supervisory board
Quelle: dpa/Andreas Gora
