Home » News » “The players notice that I also have a clue about football… – 11FREUNDE

“The players notice that I also have a clue about football… – 11FREUNDE

Myriam Krüger, SSV Ulm 1846 won 1-0 against Kickers Offenbach before the winter break and thus spent the winter at the top of the Regionalliga Südwest. Why is this year enough for promotion?
(Laughs.) First of all, the win against Offenbach was very important in order not to go into the break feeling that we had lost the connection to the top group with Offenbach and FSV Mainz II. Now we’re even up. It’s like this: A really good team has grown together here in Ulm, the mentality and cohesion are right in both the players and the coaching team. It’s an empty phrase, but everyone works for everyone here.

The SSV Ulm 1846 has announced a three-year plan that provides for promotion. How big is the pressure of having to move up in order to live up to your plans?
We’re currently in the second season of the plan, so promotion isn’t a must-do for us. On the contrary, we knew that after the change in the coaching team, we would be facing a season with adjustment phases and challenges. And it’s like this: The performance structure in the regional league is so dense that nobody should assume promotion.

As General Manager, you are responsible for the financial management of the club. After the win against Offenbach you celebrated with the players on the pitch – why?
My managing colleague Markus Thiele is mainly responsible for the sport, while I take care of administration and human resources. Still, it’s important for me to be close to the team, to appreciate the mood in the dressing room and to give the players my support.

Rangnick congratulated us on the win against Kickers Offenbach”

Many think of the past at SSV Ulm 1846: of Janusz Gora and his Scandal” call, Thomas Tuchel or Ralf Rangnick in the gym. Is the past still very present here?
Let me answer it like this: Our board is still in regular contact with Ralf Rangnick, he congratulated us on the win against Kickers Offenbach. Even as a ManUnited coach, he is still aware of what is happening here, even though we know that he is unlikely to return to the Ulm coaching chair.

In the event of a rise, the club is planning a new stadium. It’s a shame about the old Donaustadion, isn’t it?
Yes, but the stadium lacks undersoil heating, the escape lights and their lux number do not meet the license requirements, the cabins are outdated and all the cables for the media area would have to be laid new and underground. This was extrapolated and it was decided that building a new stadium would be more economical. However, there are no concrete plans for this yet. For the time being, a development group has been set up in cooperation with the city.

Between 2001 and 2014, the club filed for bankruptcy three times and experienced three forced relegations. You are now one of the promotion favourites. How is that possible?
The three board members Anton Gugelfuss, Thomas Oelmayer and Roland Häußler, for whom Alexander Schöllhorn succeeded in 2018, played a large part in this. You took over the club in 2014 during a management crisis and slowly rebuilt it. The professional game operation was spun off into a GmbH & Co KGaA, so that two investors bought shares.

So it’s – again – all a question of money?
Right now we are on a threshold. A lot of good work has been done so far, but now the next step had to be taken, which is why Markus and I were hired as managing directors. In the past, the problem was that SSV Ulm 1846 rose quickly and the club didn’t grow naturally. Now we don’t just want to be successful in sport, but let everything around us grow at the same speed in order to lead SSV Ulm 1846 back into professional football.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.