He goes there “very cold”, said the Austrian Andreas Heraf about the derby in the Olympic Stadium. Actually, the coach of Türkgücü Munich meant: his first game with the new club, never been to the Olympic Stadium, and then immediately against 1860 Munich (2:03 p.m., magenta / BR)! But at that moment it also sounded like a jump into very cold water. Because Heraf, 54, has taken over a team where, once again, it is not clear whether and how things will continue in the coming weeks. What else can he do but say things like: “We certainly won’t go into this game as favourites.”
On Thursday evening another deadline had expired for the third division team, and once again Türkgücü did not deliver on time. On Thursday afternoon, Heraf’s debut press conference was postponed to Friday at short notice – it began by saying that current rumors would not be commented on. Of course, that could have been done the day before.
Especially since a clarification would have been appropriate. After all, the club was supposed to submit proof of economic performance to the German Football Association on January 20th. Obviously this was not done. When asked by SZ, managing director Max Kothny said he could not say anything about it, it was an ongoing process. Formal mistakes could be behind it, or that Türkgücü has delivered something that needs to be checked more closely; or an extension of the deadline was requested. According to reports, a low seven-digit amount is missing, and a decision can be expected in the coming days. There is a risk of a point deduction, in extreme cases the withdrawal of the license in the medium term. Currently, it cannot be ruled out that Türkgücü will slide towards insolvency proceedings.
Türkgücü announced an IPO last summer, but it was adjourned without further comment
There are two simple reasons for the financial imbalance: The only well-known donor, President Hasan Kivran, actually no longer wanted to put millions into the team on his own, like in the first year in professional football. Türkgücü still has no main or jersey sponsor. In addition, the attempt to relieve him failed miserably. Türkgücü had announced an IPO in the summer, and 666,666 shares at twelve euros each could be bought for seven weeks in advance. Türkgücü Fußball GmbH wanted to generate capital of up to eight million euros. But the interest in the shares was obviously so low that the resulting capital increase would not have helped in the slightest. The IPO was adjourned without further comment.
It’s been a long time: In the first leg between TSV 1860 Munich and Türkgücü Munich, Sascha Mölders (left) was still on the pitch.
(Photo: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)
Exactly a year ago, Kivran had already claimed that he wanted to drop everything. For a short time there was an austerity course, players were dismissed, in January the President declared the withdrawal from the withdrawal. What’s different this time is that the club is fighting against relegation and Kivran doesn’t know if it’s even worth pumping money into the team; the big goal, the lucrative second division, is currently far away. The reported last week Stock exchanges newspaperthat Kivran is ready to sell a large part of its shares, there are interested parties. However, a major shareholder did not get involved due to the sporting downturn in the fall.
Players and employees are treated the same as they were then. Just a week ago, Heraf had mentioned that he could imagine one or two additions. On Friday he said that he “maybe wished for” this, but he was also satisfied. Reducing the squad has the advantage that all substitutes have space on the substitutes’ bench.
“And if the stadium had been completely blue, I would have been happy too,” says Kothny
It doesn’t matter how it goes on: With the need to save, players will be put under pressure this time too. According to SZ information, there are those who are advised to have lower salaries, others are told they can change if they see an opportunity. Interestingly, Sixty’s coach Michael Köllner mentioned in a subordinate clause on Friday that Türkgücü players were “offered on the market”.
An example of Türkgücü’s transfer fickleness is the recent departure of Petar Sliskovic. A year ago there was apparently a very lucrative offer for the attacker, with a club from South Korea said to have offered $550,000. Sliskovic had told the club that he absolutely wanted to change, Türkgücü refused. After that, the 30-year-old attacker has scored a meager five goals in 31 games. Now he plays for league rivals Wehen Wiesbaden. According to reports, even a severance payment should have been made. Instead of the first big transfer income, a top-up deal.
Everything still seems as if the club is planning for the long term. The Munich Sports Office, for example, said when asked that “on-site appointments” were planned for spring in order to finally find an area for a young people’s performance center and their own training ground. Without going into detail about the current imbalance, Kothny continues to blame the pandemic for the problems. The derby against 1860 Munich takes place for the second time in the Olympic Stadium without spectators, it was planned, urgently needed revenue. Even with a 25 percent occupancy rate, around 17,000 spectators should have come. “And if the stadium had been completely blue, I would have been happy too,” says Kothny. It’s just not fun in front of empty ranks.