The resurrection of FC Schalke 04 under its manager Rudi Assauer almost never happened. Because a year and a half after joining the Royal Blues, Assauer was fired. But Schalke and his manager learned from these wild days – and then led the club to great success.
“It’s like a finger from above telling you: Boy, you’re getting a second chance to show what you’ve got.” When Rudi Assauer returned to FC Schalke 04 thirty years ago at the beginning of April, a major sports magazine asked him if he was “afraid of the fans”. And in fact, the then 48-year-old, who was born in the Saarland, was not entirely comfortable with the story. Because only six years earlier they had chased him away from Schalke because they accused him of driving the club to the wall financially and sportingly. But after just a few days at Berger Feld, Rudi Assauer was already more optimistic about the future: “I was surprised at how many people encouraged me.”
“Either I can manage Schalke or Schalke can manage me,” said Rudi Assauer at the time out of defiance and with a lot of foresight. In the cool spring days of 1993, nobody could have guessed that it would end up being such a success story – because Assauer’s return was accompanied by wild fan protests against him. His reputation at the time as “unapproachable, beautiful Rudi” (“I can’t hear it anymore. Nobody can do anything about his appearance. And nowadays you just have to put on a tie when you’re negotiating advertising contracts with any global company. That’s what you have to do learn in Schalke”) came from his early days as manager of the Royal Blues. At that time he had already sent children away with the desire for free tickets with less sensitive sentences: “I don’t hate powder, I don’t need it at Schalke.”
“Path clearer and mass tamer”
A business magazine described him and his extensive field of activity these days as follows: “He is the one who obliges the players, negotiates sponsorship contracts, represents the royal blue philosophy, chief salesman of the ‘product’ Schalke 04, member of the board, managing director of all subsidiaries of the club , idea giver, path clearer, guide and mass tamer.” Thirty years ago, Assauer actually saw himself as someone different than the football fans remember him today: “I’m just not the guy who pats the shoulders at the bar with the boys and drinks one beer after the other with the boys drinks.” In public there was a picture of him that came very close to the words of Max Merkel: “Sir Assauer often spoke through his nose to protect his pearly white jacket crowns.” But this picture was to change quickly.
Because Günter Eichberg, the legendary Schalke “Sun King”, saw no other option than to bring Rudi Assauer back, despite great internal resistance on the Royal Blues’ board of directors in the spring of 1993. The financial, structural and also sporting problems demanded a very special solution and personality. A stimulus figure was needed, which should also take Eichberg out of the line of fire. Assauer was the ideal solution – even if he had to help out part-time at his old employer, VfL Oldenburg, until the end of the season. What Rudi Assauer suspected but didn’t know in detail: The club was only partially “viable” in those days. Through a complicated network of different companies, Schalke had built up a system that was difficult to understand, as Assauer also had to realize at the time: “I’m always surprised that one or the other comes up that I didn’t expect.”
But Assauer learned quickly and soon realized: “This club will never be gray and normal.” What that meant for him, however, he only had to find out a year and a half later when the members of the Gelsenkirchen sports paradise met on September 12, 1994 to elect a new president after the death of Bernd Tönnies. Today we know: It was to be the last scandalous Schalke general meeting of the old school.
“We didn’t even change our clothes against BVB in the past”
But on this day, the gathering once again lived up to its legendary reputation. For the former Schalke player Helmut Kremers, a single unforgettable sentence was enough to get the entire hall behind him: “When we used to play against Dortmund, we didn’t even change our clothes.” And when the newly elected president finally wanted to sing the traditional “Blue and know how much I love you” at the end, the members instead began to sing fervently: “We shit on BVB!”
One of Helmut Kremers’ first official acts was to fire his former adversary, Rudi Assauer. But after several heated arguments, Kremers himself had to resign – and Assauer returned. That was a lesson for the Schalke manager. It couldn’t go on like this at Schalke. Something had to change urgently. And so, with the extraordinary annual general meeting on December 5, 1994, one of the most entertaining chapters in German football history closed. The new Schalke “model statutes”, which were largely pushed by Assauer, were passed with a large majority. From now on, the members could no longer directly elect the board of directors. The supervisory boards did this immediately. For Schalke and Rudi Assauer this meant that from now on they could work in peace and with the necessary consistency. And the Royal Blues benefited from that.
“And if my old lady doesn’t get anything to eat…”
- Ben Redelings is a best-selling author and comedian from the Ruhr area.
His current book “60 Years Bundesliga. The Anniversary Album” is a modern classic from the publishing house “The workshop”
He travels throughout Germany with his football programs. Info & dates www.scudetto.de.
Rudi Assauer gradually drained the financial swamp, planned a new stadium on a grand scale, built a competitive team and hired a coach in Dutchman Huub Stevens, who would soon lead the club to winning the European Cup in 1997. But not only through the sporting successes Assauer earned a place in the hearts of the fans. He had recognized that close contact and exchange with the most important pound that Schalke could use was simply essential. Because the fans are what is special about Schalke, even if Assauer himself was always amazed at their special passion: “They don’t give a shit what it costs. They say to themselves: And if my old lady doesn’t get anything to eat – I’ll go with you! “
However, Assauer was never able to fulfill his greatest dream – winning the German championship with his club. When he spoke of the possible title win, he had tears in his eyes: “If Schalke became champions, then the bells would ring all over the Revier.” But it shouldn’t be. After the thrilling finish of the 2000/01 season, Schalke was just the “master of hearts”. And Assauer? In those minutes, he suspected that his dream would never come true: “If there is a football god, he is unfair. He died for me.” But that didn’t change anything about one thing: Rudi Assauer had more than used his second chance with the Royal Blues. And one thing is certain thirty years later: he made Schalke – and not the other way around!