RL West
Horst Riege is currently the sporting director at TSV Meerbusch. Photo: Thorsten Tillmann
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There are still about four weeks, then it starts Regional League West into the new season. Currently, the financially and structurally badly ailing one is also raising KFC Uerdingen Entitlement to be part of the extremely strong starting field again this year with clubs such as Rot-Weiss Essen, Prussia Münster, Wuppertaler SV or Rot-Weiß Oberhausen from the second weekend in August. But the many question marks surrounding the Grotenburg are overwhelming: What will the team look like? Who will train them? And how should the financial turnaround succeed? Two long-time Krefeld players from the old days also keep an eye on their former club and have now made their comments RevierSport some serious concerns – but also hope.
“Thank God,” notes Horst Riegewho worked for the KFC forerunner from 1971 to 1978 Bayer Uerdingen alluded to, “I am not entrusted with this mammoth task of bringing the club back into calmer waters.” The current sporting director of the TSV Meerbusch on coping with the numerous construction sites that are currently piling up in Krefeld. “Only from the press” follow Riege, who lives around 300 meters away from the venerable Grotenburg, the events around his ex-club, he does not have a deeper insight. One opinion, however, does. “The Regionalliga will start playing in four weeks. If I start a season without a single preparatory game, it will be very difficult. That would of course also apply to the Oberliga.” In addition, it is not even clear who will be part of the Uerdingen squad in the future. “From the outside, everything points to youth players, including possibly players from the major league. These groups of players have not played football for eight months and are only now starting again,” Riege sums up.
Even if the newly formed team should look like this or something similar on the first regional league matchday – the former defensive midfielder does not expect high packs and safe relegation. “Anything is possible in football – you only saw that again at the European Championships.”
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Vollack on the new board: “People who are credible”
Also Werner Vollack, from 1974-1976 as well as from 1982-1987 between the posts of Bayer Uerdingen and thus also DFB Cup winner 1985, is following the situation in Krefeld eagerly – he emphasizes, like Riege, the difficulty of the undertaking, with a very young and not well-rehearsed squad in the Regionalliga to keep up. “It will be difficult to keep the class. But there are young players who run for little money and fight for their club,” explains the 66-year-old. He considers the new board of directors around Damien Raths from Luxembourg and his colleagues Andreas Scholten, Christoph Lenz and Sven Hartmann to be well suited. “These are people who are credible and have a blue-red heart,” says Vollack, especially with a view to one of the top goals, namely to regain the trust that was lost through the former KFC leadership.
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Riege: “Get the ship to swim again”
Both veterans agree on one point: the fans of the KFC Uerdingen are unique. “It’s really mega what the Grotenburg Supporters are doing on a voluntary basis,” says Vollack. Riege adds: “The fact that such a club cannot play in its own stadium for three years simply cannot happen. Hats off to everyone who is currently involved in the renovation.” Above all, he wishes the new board of directors one thing: “That they get the ship KFC Uerdingen to swim again. Perhaps there will still be a sponsor who will provide financial resources. Some fans also see it as a positive sign that the club is still Hasn’t disclosed any personal details. Maybe in the next week you will suddenly come around the corner with a few new Regionalliga players who you didn’t want to communicate before. I would definitely like the Regionalliga for the KFC. But they should be in the Oberliga start, we would of course look forward to well-attended games against them in Meerbusch, “said the 228-time Bayer Uerdingen player, describing his attitude towards things.
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