The Honorary Council of FC Schalke 04 will today deal with the case of Clemens Tönnies and decide on his future after the racism scandal. Various players will also be interviewed. Various anti-racism organizations criticize the chairman of the supervisory board. Here’s all the news and rumors about S04.
The honorary council of FC Schalke 04 will decide on the future of Clemens Tönnies on Tuesday. According to the picture, various (ex-)players should also be questioned about the case. Gerald Asamoah (40/now U23 team manager), Thilo Kehrer (22/PSG), Naldo (36/AS Monaco), Salif Sané (28) and Suat Serdar (22) are to provide information on whether Tönnies has ever acted racist towards them.
Last weekend it had become public that Tönnies had made racist remarks during a lecture at an event in Paderborn (Handicrafts Day). Tönnies had suggested setting up 20 power stations in Africa: “Then Africans would stop felling trees and stop producing children when it’s dark.”
Tönnies himself flies in from Mallorca for his hearing before the Schalker honorary council on Tuesday. The association announced that the 63-year-old had “immediately declared his willingness” to “comment on the case at the meeting as well”.
It is still unclear whether and which consequences threaten the head of the supervisory board in Schalk. The Honorary Council has far-reaching powers, as even the Hamm Higher Regional Court confirmed in a ruling.
The Honorary Council has a wide margin for manoeuvre when it comes to sanctions. He can even expel members from the association, according to the statutes, for example, in the case of “grossly damaging to the association or dishonourable behaviour, in particular the announcement of racist or xenophobic sentiments”.
Schalke’s ex-trainer Huub Stevens vehemently defended Clemens Tönnies at the Day of Crafts in Paderborn, according to his racist words. “He himself was frightened by his statement, just like all of us,” Stevens is quoted by the WAZ. He took Tönnies’ excuse: “I have faith in him that something like this won’t happen to him again.”
Stevens, who saved Schalke from relegation last season as interim coach, was not alone. Sigmar Gabriel of the SPD also jumped to Tönnies’ side and did not want to talk about racism in the Tönnies case. Anyone who knows Tönnies, “knows that this is really not true. But above all, this comparison trivializes the real racists.”
According to WAZ, Otto Rehhagel did not want to distance himself from Tönnies either. He had got to know the entrepreneur as an “honest and socially committed person.” Tönnies has never shown any racist tendencies.
Schalke’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board Clemens Tönnies has experienced a headwind from various anti-racism organisations. “The statements are no longer within the bounds of what is tolerable,” Timo Reinfrank, Managing Director of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, told the dpa.
Tahir Della of the Initiative Schwarze Menschen recognized “the highest problematic statements” and found it frightening that in 2019 “this colonial racist image of Africa still exists and is part of the discourse”.
With the focus on the case of Clemens Tönnies, the upcoming compulsory start of the royal blues game is almost forgotten. Next Saturday the Schalkers will play their first round match in the DFB Cup at SV Drochtersen/Assel. In the Bundesliga, Gelsenkirchen will meet Borussia Mönchengladbach for the first time.
