Eintracht Frankfurt not only on a cozy course
Eintracht Frankfurt not only enjoys the title during the annual general meeting, but also speaks plain language
Right from the start it was carried and placed in a place of honor in the middle of the podium, of course appropriately lit and illuminated, the good piece, truly the object of desire, called “our good friend” by Eintracht President Peter Fischer. The good friend “for whom we have waited an eternity and who no one can take away from us”. The European Cup. Achievements in this epic final on May 18 in Seville against Glasgow Rangers, their first international title in 42 years. Peter Fischer, President of Eintracht for more than 20 years, couldn’t help it and had to scurry over and stroke the part lovingly. Thunderous applause erupted. So you can also open a general meeting, die 21st in the harmony life of the 66-year-old.
In the retrospective, of course, the focus was on the triumph on the Spanish night in May. “This magical night is still in our heads,” exclaimed Fischer. “Everyone has their own images in their heads.” And further: “Eintracht Frankfurt has set a milestone for German football.”
In his speech to 800 members in the Wolfgang-Steubing-Halle in Riederwald, the heart of Eintracht, CEO Axel Hellmann also blows this horn. “We have shifted borders, we have set an exclamation mark in Germany and Europe,” said the 51-year-old. “We brought the romance of football back to Europe.” Thunderous applause, of course.
The experienced official spoke of the “energetic bond” in the club, i.e. the symbiosis between the fans, the team, but also friends, probably. This interaction is something extraordinary. “That’s a feature of this club, we can pull off special performances in special situations.” And we “are envied” for this total work of art.
President Fischer comes up with the current numbers of members: 115 112. This means that Eintracht is already in the top group, within reach of 1.FC Köln. “They still have 5,000, 6,000 more. Dear people of Cologne, we’ll get you, we’ll overtake you. I promise that,” boomed Fischer, freshly recovered from a corona infection, down from the podium. And Mister Eintracht also had extra praise ready for a player who was present, Makoto Hasebe, the oldie. The Japanese was later given a short hymn of praise by Axel Hellmann. And those present bowed to the great sportsman who had found his way to the east of Frankfurt, just like his comrades Evan Ndicka and Captain Sebastian Rode.
Hellmann warns the fans
The coaching team was also completely upset, head coach Oliver Glasner addressed a few words of greeting to the plenum. When the men responsible for the sport left the hall at around 8.30 p.m., the people rose from their seats and accompanied them on their way home with a standing ovation.
But the meeting did not only consist of peace-joy-pancake speeches. The Eintracht board renewed its criticism of Mayor Peter Feldmann, who, according to Hellmann, wanted to prevent the car parade through the city and had the sports director Markus Krösche deny access to the Römer’s balcony. “A mayor should present a city in a big moment and stylishly and not self-confidently stage and stage himself,” said Hellmann, who only addressed Feldmann’s “confused speech” in the Kaisersaal in a subordinate clause.
Hellmann moves on to the next topic, which he himself finds extremely ugly. The behavior of the fans. Hellmann didn’t make it easy for himself to blame the bad events in Marseille on the hosts alone. “I don’t want people to be shot at from a unity block in another block,” he says firmly, and rhetorically asked the question: “Do you have to kill someone first before there’s a reversal?” who had shown the Hitler salute in Marseille was not, as rumored, spared by Eintracht. “It’s quite clear that we don’t want people like that.” But the rule of law would have to judge such an unacceptable misconduct.
CFO Oliver Frankenbach didn’t have any good news in his briefcase either. He painted a gloomy picture of the finances and impressively promoted a capital measure by the football company, which would then dilute the parent club’s share. Since the equity is only six million euros, a supply is unavoidable. “It’s a dramatic situation.”