Sport Armin Veh’s return
The dirty power struggle at VfB Stuttgart
As of: 10:36 a.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
By Julian Agardi, Tobias Altschäffl
Armin Veh is supposed to enrich Stuttgart’s supervisory board
Source: picture alliance/dpa/Arne Dedert
Things are going extremely well for VfB Stuttgart on the pitch. Off the pitch, the club presents a desolate picture. The chaos at the management level also affects future sporting decisions. Master trainer Armin Veh should now provide a remedy.
In terms of sport, things are going well at VfB Stuttgart. Despite the 1-2 defeat at Werder Bremen, the Swabians are still on course for the Champions League in third place with four games to go. Nevertheless, dark clouds of smoke have been gathering over the traditional club for several weeks. And they don’t just come from our own fans, who have recently expressed their displeasure with the power struggle at the top of the club several times through boycotts and setting off black pyrobombs.
“Supervisory Board, Investors, Presidium: Enough” was once again written on an Ultras banner from the Cannstatter Kurve at the away game in Bremen on Sunday. The fans are not calling for the resignation of club president Claus Vogt (54), but are also extremely critical of the work of new investor Porsche.
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The trigger for the dispute was the replacement of the chairman of the supervisory board. Vogt lost his position to Tanja Gönner (54) in mid-March. The ultras feel betrayed. Background: a promise as part of the spin-off in 2017 that the association president will always be chairman of the AG’s control body. The accusation: Vogt’s removal from office, who has now lost the trust of the fans, came about primarily due to pressure from Porsche (which has two members on the control board). And now the club would have less influence on what happens in the AG. The Ultras accuse the club bosses and supervisory board members of primarily caring about maintaining their own power and not the well-being of the club.
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Vice Adrion is not a fan of Wohlgemuth
The chaos at the management level also affects future sporting decisions. Almost three weeks ago, the supervisory board decided to promote sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth (45) to sports director. However, a quick contract signing is currently not expected. It is no secret that Vice President Rainer Adrion (70) was not a fan of the Wohlgemuth promotion for a long time. Adrion already had his problems with his predecessors Sven Mislintat (51) and Michael Reschke (66). He would have preferred to see Joti Chatzialexiou (47) in the sports director position. The Frankfurt native was most recently active in various positions at the DFB for 20 years, but he completely lacks experience at club level.
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The search for a new sports director took almost a year before the decision was made in favor of Wohlgemuth. In public, VfB presented a desolate image. Also because the supervisory board, which is largely made up of company bosses and CEOs, includes numerous business experts, but they do not represent excessive football expertise.
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In order to get exactly them into the club, VfB is thinking about appointing Stuttgart’s champion coach from 2007, Armin Veh (63), to the supervisory board. According to WELT information, the former managing director of 1. FC Cologne has already appeared in Stuttgart and convinced the committee heads with his statements and arguments. The plan: Veh should join the supervisory board at the latest during the upcoming general meeting on July 28th and use his football know-how profitably. So that, in addition to its sporting success, VfB can now get back on track outside of the pitch.
Worked together in Cologne five years ago: VfB boss Alexander Wehrle (left) and Armin Veh, then FC sports director
Source: picture alliance/U. Hufnagel/Ulrich Hufnagel
Because VfB’s sensational season is closely linked to the name Sebastian Hoeneß (41), but also to Wohlgemuth. Both harmonize perfectly with each other, but they have to endure and moderate the quarrels at the top level. So far they have succeeded very well – in Bremen there was the first sporting setback after weeks of success.
The article was written for the Sports Competence Center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published in SPORT BILD.
