Instead, a standing ovation
Deselection of HSV President Jansen clearly fails
01/21/2023, 6:30 p.m
The result is surprisingly clear: Marcell Jansen can remain president of Hamburger SV. Two applications for deselection at the 2nd Bundesliga team fail. He may have received a lot of criticism, but there are good things to say about the club.
Marcell Jansen’s victory was clearer than expected. The former national player can remain president of Hamburger SV. At the general meeting of the second division football team on Saturday, two combined motions to vote out clearly missed the required two-thirds majority.
“I thank you for the clarity. For us, not for me personally. I can only thank you,” said the 37-year-old in Room 1 of the CCH. “We have big things ahead of us. Let’s continue on this path together.”
He had previously accepted the vote with relief: 73.43 percent (467 votes) rejected the application, 26.57 percent (169) voted for dismissal. A total of 636 votes were cast. Jansen had announced in advance that he would withdraw voluntarily if there was a simple majority for the motions. The result was greeted with cheers and a standing ovation from the assembly.
“Of course mistakes were made”
In their justifications, the two applicants, Till Hischemöller and Ulrich Becker, had primarily accused Jansen of errors in his role as chairman of the supervisory board at Fußball AG. Among other things, he was criticized for his hesitant dealings with the controversial CFO Thomas Wüstefeld, who resigned in September after ten months.
The two motions should have been dealt with at the end of the agenda, but were combined and brought forward because of their importance. In the almost two-hour – at times emotional – debate on the motions, a number of speakers shared some of the points of criticism listed in the motions, but the majority also spoke out in favor of the former Bundesliga professional staying on. “Of course mistakes were made, especially last year, of course there were sleepless nights,” said Jansen. “Why am I doing this to myself? Because we all like to do this to HSV.”
Balance sheet of HSV is positive
Jansen has been at the head of the traditional club since 2019. At the beginning of 2021 he resigned after a dispute with his then deputies Thomas Schulz and Moritz Schaefer. In August of the same year he was re-elected. His term runs until 2025.
Jansen’s personality covered the meeting and the club’s overall positive balance. For the first time, HSV eV has more than 90,000 members. In the last financial year, Fußball AG achieved a positive result of around one million euros for the first time in eleven years, as the new CFO Eric Huwer emphasized in his speech. In addition, there is the financially secured modernization measure of the Volksparkstadion with a view to the EM 2024 as well as the new contracts with sports director Jonas Boldt, CFO Huwer and trainer Tim Walter. The big goal should then be achieved in May: the return to the Bundesliga.