In the 2nd Bundesliga, Hamburger SV has only won one game so far. In the DFB Cup, coach Tim Walter’s team struggled against third division Bayreuth after extra time to reach the second round. Reinforcements – as the coach had called for in several statements, at least indirectly in public – are not in sight for the time being. HSV board member Thomas Wüstefeld presented his plans for the near future in a media session on Tuesday. First refurbish, then invest – that is the core statement of the 53-year-old, who can certainly imagine further cooperation with his colleague Jonas Boldt.
“There is no rift,” said Wüstefeld about the cooperation with Boldt. Most recently, due to the separation from sports director Michael Mutzel, who had won an employment law dispute with HSV Fußball AG last week, there were reports of a camp being formed at the decision-making level of the club. “Michael is about sport, sport is Jonas,” said Wüstefeld, who hopes for a “quick out-of-court settlement” in order to “quickly get back into calm waters”.
In this waterway, however, the renovation of the Volksparkstadion is currently going ahead for the operational business and possible player commitments for Wüstefeld. The 53-year-old said he was “on the home stretch” in terms of financing. He wants to report completion within ten days. Both the financing and the guarantee concept are available.
Around 20 million euros are estimated for the modernization of the stadium, in which five matches of the European Championship are to be played in 2024. The renewal of the roof membrane and the air conditioning are urgent. The HSV has to go into new debt and external financing, since a total of 23.5 million euros, which should have been used for renovation by selling the stadium property to the city, are no longer available.
In this context, Wüstefeld, who holds 5.07 percent of the AG shares parallel to his board activities, felt badly informed by the former CFO Frank Wettstein. The handover went “saumies,” said Wüstefeld. When he bought the shares from patron Klaus-Michael Kühne, he didn’t know that the money for the renovation was no longer there. Wettstein explained to him that “everything was taken into account from an economic point of view”.
After the stadium renovation, the Kühne Holding should consider financial improvements and possible recourse claims against other parties involved. But that is the task of the supervisory board, emphasized the official.
“What I’m experiencing is unbelievable,” says Wüstefeld, describing the months since he became a shareholder and his activities as chairman of the supervisory board and now on the AG board. He also “didn’t know” that there was an obligation to inform the sports committee of the Hamburg Parliament about the sale of the property.
“The most important thing is that we preserve the Volkspark,” Wüstefeld summed up. Once the repairs are complete, other issues can be addressed. Above all, this includes strengthening the team, which should be promoted to the Bundesliga again at the end of the season after five years in league two. Equally important: The ideal world of bosses must stand up to scrutiny in reality. And the Tem should win against Heidenheim on Saturday if possible, otherwise all the sometimes euphoric statements made before the start of the season about promotion are just waste – again.
