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Matthias Tillmann: I think it’s important to keep our members and fans in the loop
Matthias Tillmann had been looking forward to the start of pre-season on Wednesday (26/6) for several weeks. “I’m pleased that we’re finally back,” said the club’s CEO after the first training session. Ahead of the new campaign, Tillmann, alongside his colleague Christina Rühl-Hamers and the sporting leadership (Marc Wilmots and Ben Manga), has made a number of big decisions.
The CEO said that it was a nice feeling to see the new-look team out on the training ground for the first time, but stressed that the squad isn’t complete yet and there will be further changes to it. Tillmann is nonetheless satisfied with how the squad currently looks: “We’ve already been able to make some really exciting signings, and that’s even before the official start of the transfer window on 1st July. Everything we’ve done so far has been done with a clear plan and target in mind. This is how we will continue to do things.”
Planning for the future
Tillmann made it clear that the club is making plans not just for the present, but also for the future too. “We already said in the winter that we need to think about the coming years and not just the upcoming season,” explained S04’s CEO. “We want to build a young team with ambitious and hungry staff members alongside them here. We’ve been able to do this so far, but we’re still in the middle of this process.” Tillmann believes that it’s important that the squad has a good mix of young and experienced players that will work well together.
We want to build a young team with ambitious and hungry staff members alongside them here.
The 40-year-old is well aware that lots of fans will expect the Royal Blues to be near the top of the table, something he hopes will happen too. “However, we can’t expect everything to start working perfectly straight away. We need a bit of patience in our situation. It’s important that we see some development and that we’re further along in the second half of the season compared to the first. We want the team to keep on improving and to continuously take steps in the right direction.”
In order to do that, Tillmann believes the group needs to gel quickly. “That means the team, the coaches and all the staff members,” he affirmed. “We all know that it won’t happen overnight. There have been a number of changes throughout the whole club, not just when it comes to the squad. We’ve done a lot to face the reality of our current situation. When you are now going into your third campaign in the second division in four years, you can’t maintain a structure as a club that’s designed for playing in Europe every year.”
Regular updates
Tillmann is confident that this process will be successful in the coming weeks and months. The CEO also wants to ensure that the 180,000 Schalke members feel involved, which is why he’s been sharing regular updates on plans and decisions made via the club’s social media channels. “This transparency is important to me. It allows our members and fans to understand why we’ve done certain things and allows them to discuss them in the comments.”
There has been a lot of positive feedback so far for this initiative and Tillmann himself is happy: “I think it’s important to keep our fans and members in the loop.”
