The new sporting leaders at Rot-Weiss Essen are rebuilding RWE. In doing so, they are pursuing their plan without regard for names. One comment.

Three promotion heroes gone at once. Rot-Weiss Essen will be without Simon Engelmann, Felix Herzenbruch and Oguzhan Kefkir in the new season.

Three men who have left their mark on Essen-Bergeborbeck. Herzenbruch is regarded as the epitome of Hafenstrasse football, Engelmann scored as he pleased and enjoyed cult status among the supporters. And many RWE fans would also have liked to see Kefkir remain in Essen.

The club chose a different path. And you have to hand it to boss Marcus Uhlig and the sporting directors Christian Flüthmann (sports director) and Marcus Steegmann (director of professional football): they didn’t choose the easy way. Hats off!

They know what it means to let numerous fan favourites go. The other idea they spoke of when the heartbreak exit was communicated must sit.

But you have to give the trio a chance. They want to change RWE, they want to take the Essen-based company to the next level. That also means making difficult decisions that are rarely popular.

If you take all the emotions out of it, you can make a sober assessment. The trio that now has to go has enormous merits, but they don’t count in the future. Unfortunately, that is the way of business. Engelmann is 34 years old, Kefkir 31 and Herzenbruch 30. At some point a cut is simply necessary.

RWE needs leaders and experience, but it’s no use having ten men in the squad who are around 30. And the leaders who are supposed to lead RWE further up the ladder have to have even more quality than the trio who are now leaving RWE.

Now Steegmann and Flüthmann have the task of luring these players to Hafenstrasse. They have to find a mix of young talents who can make the breakthrough in Essen and experienced players who set the tone on the pitch and lead Essen to the top.

So that in a year’s time the spectators will continue to think fondly of Herzenbruch, Engelmann and Kefkir, but new players will have managed to play their way into the hearts of the RWE fans.