SpVgg Unterhaching: Dilapidated foundation

When the head of a sports club announces after two and a half hours that all the cards held up must be counted individually, a groan naturally goes through the room. "Oh well, it's no good," said Peter Wagstyl after a warning from his prompter, supervisory board member and lawyer Dirk Monheim, that the matter could ultimately become legal. So the vice president of SpVgg Unterhaching counted: "Sixty-six, sixty-eight, seventy..." It's questionable whether the results were always exactly correct.

On one occasion, the total of 78 votes in favor, 25 against, and 18 abstentions was 124, not 121, even though 137 members had previously been counted. What was significant about this multiple counts was that no one in the club thought of helping Wagstyl, as it would have been much quicker and more accurate. But many of those in charge were obviously preoccupied with their own thoughts. President Manfred Schwabl, for example, had initially called for "fire at will" in light of the club's relegation from the third division and its less than professional performance in recent times. Towards the end, he looked as if he'd been given a slap in the face, although his position was clearly not up for debate. The executive committee was re-elected with one vote against and presumably 14 abstentions.

The agenda item "Discussion" alone dragged on almost as long as a football match. Indeed, several issues that had gone wrong in the sporting arena were addressed, such as the dismissal of coach Heiko Herrlich in the winter (according to Manfred Schwabl, the trigger was the planned exclusion of two key players from the association cup), or the poor squad planning. Fans criticized the fact that president's son, Markus Schwabl, was both sporting director and player. However, the review called for by the club is unlikely to have major consequences: the dual role remains in place.

Things became a little tense when the discharge of the Executive Board for the 2023/24 financial year briefly seemed to be in jeopardy – ultimately, it ended with the figures mentioned above. The counting was so precise because other figures were missing, namely those from the financial report for the 2023/24 season, even though this was already a year ago. Treasurer Dirk Matten explained that after the GmbH's Annual General Meeting six days earlier, "some items still had to be considered" and objection deadlines had to be met. He simply explained that the club's loss had decreased from €526,000 in 2023 to €261,000. Club member Manu then asked: "If you don't see the figures, if the annual financial statements aren't available, can you discharge a Presidium?" From then on, hectic whispering reigned among the members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board. Matten answered the central question of the evening, namely whether the eV was at risk due to the KgaA's debts, with a "no." The KgaA’s balance sheet loss amounts to 14.6 million euros.

The club made it clear that "we are not a third-division team at the moment" (Schwabl), and that they must now start "from the foundations," meaning that even an immediate return to the league is unrealistic. Nevertheless, the club intends to stick to its plans to purchase the stadium from the municipality for €7.56 million. Schwabl indicated that it can count on the support of its cooperation partner, FC Bayern, because its women's team plans to host Champions League matches at the sports park in the future. Currently, however, the club does not appear to be able to raise the purchase price. The executive committee is also aware that the stadium needs major renovations.