June 30, 2020 – 7:11 p.m.
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Immediate resignation
“Royal Blue” bang: Clemens Tönnies has resigned as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at FC Schalke 04. This was confirmed by the heavily indebted Bundesliga soccer club. The 64-year-old had recently received massive criticism after numerous corona cases in his meat company.
“Know how difficult it was for him to make this decision”
Tönnies informed the club on Tuesday that he would resign from the office of supervisory board chairman with immediate effect and leave the committee, according to a press release by the “Royal Blues”. Tönnies had headed the club for 19 years.
“My main task is to concentrate fully on my company right now, to successfully lead it through the worst crisis in its history,” wrote Tönnies in his resignation letter to the Bundesliga team. The decision was “very difficult for him after so many years”.
# S04 update: Clemens Tönnies resigns from FC Schalke 04.
— FC Schalke 04 (????) (@s04) June 30, 2020
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“As a member and chairman of the supervisory board, Clemens Tönnies has played a decisive role in ensuring that FC Schalke 04 has established itself as one of the sporting and economic heavyweights in the Bundesliga over the past 26 years,” said board members Alexander Jobst and Jochen Schneider, thanking them Tönnies for his “strong entrepreneurial spirit and passionate commitment”: “We know how difficult it was for him to make this decision, so we deserve our utmost respect.” Philipp Köster: “Resignation was overdue”
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The resignation is probably also the result of massive criticism from Schalke fans of Tönnies. After the Corona outbreak in his meat company, the Schalke team demonstrated at SC Freiburg on Saturday at the club’s premises against the mighty S04 boss.
At the entrance to the old Schalker Glückaufkampfbahn, a banner with the inscription: “No exploiters at S04 – Tönnies Raus!” And on a bridge and on the construction fence of the old park stadium there were posters with identical cancellation requests. Last year, Tönnies had upset the majority of fans with controversial statements about Africans.
Sporting crash in the Bundesliga
Tönnies has been a member of the club’s control committee since 1994 and has been chairing it since 2001. During this time, Schalke won three cups, five times runner-up and played ten times in the Champions League.
In the end, however, the sporting and economic problems became bigger and bigger. Schalke almost relegated in the 2018/2019 season. In the season that has just ended, the club dreamed of returning to the European Cup after coaching David Wagner, but crashed abruptly in the back series.
After 16 games without a win, Schalke only ended the season in twelfth place. Even before the Corona crisis, liabilities grew to almost EUR 200 million. In its emergency, the club is said to have applied for a guarantee from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to ensure its continued existence.
Uli Klose: “Schalke now needs a strong personality
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The Schalke want to announce at a later date who will take over the chairmanship of Tönnies’ supervisory board.
RTL.de/DPA
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