Clemens Tönnies is no longer the head of the supervisory board at FC Schalke 04. The club confirms the decision of the 64-year-old on Tuesday. It is probably the result of massive criticism.
The era of Clemens Tönnies on Schalke has ended. The controversial head of the supervisory board resigns from the Bundesliga club FC Schalke 04, which is experiencing sporting and economic difficulties. The Revierclub confirmed corresponding reports from the “Bild” newspaper and the “Kicker” on Tuesday after a regular supervisory board meeting.
The 64-year-old Tönnies had recently come under massive criticism after a corona outbreak in his meat company. It was only on Saturday, parallel to the last game of the season, that Schalke demonstrated at 0: 4 at SC Freiburg around 1000 fans on the club grounds against the mighty Schalke boss.
# S04 update: Clemens Tönnies resigns from FC Schalke 04.
— FC Schalke 04 (????) (@s04) June 30, 2020
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Tönnies has been a member of the club’s supervisory body since 1994 and has chaired it since 2001. During this time, Schalke won three cups, five times runner-up and played ten times in the Champions League. In the end, the sporting and economic problems got bigger and bigger. Schalke almost relegated in the 2018/2019 season. In the season that has just ended, the club dreamed of returning to the European Cup after coaching David Wagner, but crashed abruptly in the back series.
After 16 games without a win, Schalke only ended the season in twelfth place. Even before the Corona crisis, liabilities grew to almost EUR 200 million. If necessary, the club is said to have applied for a guarantee from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in order to ensure its continued existence.
Added to this was the annoyance about Tönnies, which discharged itself more and more violently. At the entrance to the old Schalker Glückaufkampfbahn, a banner with the inscription: “No exploiters at S04 – Tönnies Raus!” And on a bridge and on the construction fence of the old park stadium there were posters with identical cancellation requests. And: «No racists at Schalke!»
Last year, Tönnies had angered the majority of fans with controversial statements about Africans. These had been interpreted as racist.
