Harm Ohlmeyer has stayed in the background at SV Werder Bremen for the past few months. But the Supervisory Board, which was newly elected almost a year ago, was not idle. The CFO of adidas pushed ahead with the preparations for the possible entry of an investor and has now presented the results to his colleagues on the control committee at the workshop in the training camp. In an interview with our Deichstube, the 54-year-old announces that he not only wants to bring momentum to this topic, but also to the discussion about the future of the performance center (LZ).
As adidas CFO, are you allowed to wear the Umbro jersey or other items from this manufacturer at all?
Harm Ohlmeyer: As you can see, I’ll do it. But I was really struggling with myself this morning: should I wear an adidas polo shirt or an Umbro shirt? In my role at Werder I do that now, otherwise I’m very brand affine and almost only wear adidas.
Why don’t you make sure that Werder also wears Adidas in the future?
That would make it easier for me (laughs). But that’s not my decision at adidas. But we’ve already done a lot there, we’re no longer just concentrating on the best clubs – in Germany that was Bayern Munich. Now we are also active at Hamburger SV, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Union Berlin, 1. FC Nürnberg and Schalke 04. But there are existing contracts at Werder, so that’s not an issue at the moment.
In your opinion, how important is a jersey like this for a club?
One shouldn’t overestimate that. You can’t win much with a jersey, but you can lose a lot. If the jersey sucks then it becomes an issue. Of course, the sponsors play a role, which can be seen on the shirt. The manufacturer certainly too. It’s a statement when it’s one of the two big football brands, i.e. adidas or Nike.
When you were elected to the supervisory board almost a year ago, you announced that you wanted to find an investor. How is the partner search going?
That is still my goal. Investor is a big word and not so positively conferred, especially in Bremen. That’s why I like to talk about a strategic partner. And we want to find the right one. He has to know Werder’s values and know that he’s not allowed to touch certain things at Werder.
Which?
The colors green and white, the logo, the location in Bremen. It’s also about the long term. We are not looking for patrons or investors from countries that are not so opportune. There are plenty of other potential partners as well. I would like to emphasize one thing: luckily we got promoted again after a year, but that doesn’t solve all the problems we have. It makes the financial situation better, but nothing more. We can all now hope to win a lot of games and increase the market value of our players and then sell them. But of course there is a lot of hope. That alone is not enough for me. There are good examples in the Bundesliga. Frankfurt has done well with some partners, and Cologne has also stabilized financially. We have to do something about it.
How do you go about it?
I’ve invested quite a bit of time. Since I’ve never looked for a strategic partner for a club, I also got advice from outside.
Werder officials have been talking about wanting to tackle this issue for years, but so far it has always remained a desire.
That’s a Werder problem. There is a lot of talk about something, but then you have to do it. I don’t score any goals and I haven’t made any other contribution to promotion. But this is exactly where I see my role: asking questions, pushing, applying pressure. What do we want? What timetable do we have to implement this? A possible partner wants to know exactly what we want. It’s also about the next five to ten years. You need a clear investment plan for what the money should be used for. That’s our turn.
How far are you?
We are at 80 percent of what I envision in order to be able to take the next step – that is, to specifically approach partners.
When do you want something to happen?
We will definitely need another six to nine months to get to 100 percent. It is also about the correct financial assessment of Werder Bremen. What do we think about it, how do others see it?
So could Werder get a strategic partner in 2023?
That’s my personal goal. However, this goal has also been agreed with the Supervisory Board and the Management. We must at least be ready for this in 2023. Situations can also change through sporting success.
You seem very optimistic about finding a partner – why?
The right partner will not come to us of their own accord. We have to take action ourselves. And I see good chances because Werder is a special, a good club. That matters.
How many shares should Werder sell?
That can be anything from five to theoretically 49.9 percent. The 50+1 rule stands, so that’s the limit. You will certainly not go to the maximum in the first step, but a second and third step may follow. It also depends on what we want to do with the money and where we are as a club at that point.
What would you recommend?
Our core message is that we are a training association. Then the performance center is an important part. We’ve been talking about that for years, too – and I ask myself: What’s the plan now? If we don’t have a good plan, we won’t find a strategic partner either. Because his first question will always be, and I’ve already spoken to a few: What is your plan for being successful? Then we call ourselves a training club, but we can’t say how the LZ will continue.
Wait a minute, Werder has been wanting to replace the ailing LZ in the Pauliner Marsch next to the Weser Stadium with a new building and build a small stadium for years.
If you approach the matter completely unencumbered, you have to ask yourself: Flood area? Difficult! Can the LZ be protected against flooding in the same way as the stadium? Difficult! And the local residents? Not easy. Financing? Difficult! It is certainly everyone’s wish to continue building in the Pauliner Marsch. But if that doesn’t go forward, we have to take the next step and look for another location, otherwise it will never go forward. As a member of the Supervisory Board, I would like to bring some momentum into this. And it might be a good thing if, like me, you’re a little further away from Bremen because I live somewhere else. I understand all the emotions, but in the end you have to go through the decision-making process neutrally.
What sporting goal must Werder have in the long term?
In the short term we want to re-establish Werder in the Bundesliga, but of course we want to play in Europe again at some point. If you don’t tackle this goal and don’t make the necessary investments, then there is a risk that Werder will become one of those elevator teams. Yes, it was pretty successful in the 2nd division, but we won’t be able to recover financially there. And the last few years have torn a big financial hole.
According to reports, a transfer fee of four million euros was paid for Jens Stage. How much did the supervisory board have to gnash their teeth when approving it?
Not at all. You set a budget and discuss what risk you want to take. And we want to exude a certain confidence that we believe in the coach and the team. That’s why we’re taking a little more risk to establish ourselves in the Bundesliga.
Your predecessors on the supervisory board, together with the management, took even more risks a few years ago with the purchase commitments for Leonardo Bittencourt and Ömer Toprak. That went badly wrong.
In hindsight, it’s always easy to criticize that. It was definitely a conscious decision – like we do now. We discussed it for a long time, looked at what the profit and loss account looks like and so on. Then we defined the framework – and it was used responsibly.
Finally, to you personally: You have been a member of the Supervisory Board for a good six months. Did it turn out the way you imagined?
I have to admit that I am a rather unemotional type. But after the Kiel game, it really hit me. That was a difficult weekend. Football and Werder took on a different emotionality for me. I would not have expected that. Otherwise a lot went very well, it was fun. I have already achieved a lot in my life – family with two children, professionally with a good career. David Brooks’ book The Second Mountain says that once you climb your first mountain, the second mountain doesn’t have to be higher, just another one where you give back. That’s what I want to do at Werder and I’d like to have even more influence to leave something behind when I do something else again at some point.
The interview was conducted by Björn Knips.
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