Schalke 04 will not end the season too happy. The German team from the Rühr area has not won a game since the Bundesliga returned (two draws and six losses) and this weekend will have the last opportunity to do so at Freiburg's home. The half of the table will be the destination where this trip for the 19/20 of the Bundesliga will end. Far from a club that was accustomed to Europe with some regularity.
But, beyond everything that happens in the field, its social climate is also rarefied. The coronavirus crisis, the breakdown and the measures taken have pissed off the fans until the point that their ultras, the group Ultras Gelsenkirchen, have declared the “moral bankruptcy” of the club.
In a long statement they speak of a “catastrophic image in the field” and of a club that “makes a fool of itself every week and that has lost all contact with the reality of Gelsenkirchen”. “It is a declaration of moral bankruptcy. A sale of the Schalke securities that have been used for marketing purposes,” they add.
Through this statement they ask for transparency and do not understand how a few weeks of hiatus can put a club that enters millions of euros in such a difficult financial situation. In addition, they highlight an episode of management that outrages them remarkably.
Several weeks ago, players agreed to a cut in their pay and even fans They renounced a possible return of the corresponding part of the subscription that they were not going to enjoy to try to help the club. From the directive, they started with cuts and the first affected were the employees who paid less as volunteers, who received a small reward of 60 euros per month, or the bus drivers of the quarry, who did it for 450 euros per month, and who now they have been fired. This group ensures that these measures are far from the “social responsibility” that the club should show.