The management of third-division club Rot-Weiss Essen has recently come under heavy criticism. Now Pfeifer, Rang, and Oelert respond in an interview. Here is the second part of the conversation.

On Sunday, third-division club Rot-Weiss Essen will hold its annual general meeting at 11 a.m. Ahead of the meeting, this editorial team met with the two RWE board members Marc-Nicolai Pfeifer and Alexander Rang and supervisory board chairman Lothar Oelert for an in-depth interview.

In the first part, we talked about the fan protests, the chaotic last AGM in 2023, and the inglorious departure of Sascha Peljhan.

In the second part, the RWE management talks about the annual reports, developments with sponsors, and the club’s further goals.

Marc-Nicolai Pfeifer, you have now been in office for more than three months. What is the situation in Essen?

Pfeifer: We don’t want to reinvent RWE. We have huge potential and a good starting position. We want to and will continue to develop things. There are things we want to improve.

For example?

Pfeifer: It’s about being able to realistically talk about promotion on the basis of good economic performance and not just dreaming about it. We also need to improve communication and become more self-critical. We haven’t quite got that right yet. We want to develop revenue using the big lever, primarily sponsorship. That’s not just a slogan; we have a clear plan here. Alexander Rang will pick up on that at the general meeting on Sunday. We also see opportunities in match operations.

What’s the situation with the stadium expansion?

Pfeifer: We also want to improve the financial results from match operations and, of course, expand the stadium. We want to do everything we can to achieve this, including playing our part through good development, continuity, and stability within the club. This will enable us to further build trust with politicians so that they will tackle this project together with us. Of course, the conditions must also be right. We want to and must continue to address the issue of infrastructure, for example at the Förderwerk. The overall starting position is good, but certain things need to be further optimized.

What, for example?

Pfeifer: The ratio between the total budget and what can be invested in the player budget. We currently have a ratio that is below average compared to other clubs in the league. So we are not efficient enough. We have too much expenditure in other areas that do not serve the sport.

What else needs to be tackled?

Pfeifer: We need better cost management, and we’ve also had to make some changes in the commercial area to ensure transparency and better control. In addition, we’ve spoken to every employee since July to see if we’re doing the right things and doing them right. We’ve looked at whether we’re oversized in some areas of administration. Currently, we are not. We have a hard-working team that puts its heart and soul into its work and is now generating more revenue with fewer people. There were also contracts that were running without any consideration in return. Alex got heavily involved and achieved results.

What exactly is being done?

Pfeifer: We have clear goals for what we want to achieve with the measures we are taking and how the finances are to be improved. We are currently reviewing every expense item. Compared to the original plan for the current season, we have already achieved some concrete improvements. We have managed to achieve a positive result in the ambitious 3rd league. Not many clubs manage that. We have fulfilled all the requirements imposed on us by the DFB and have also been able to slightly increase the budget for the first team. I can only thank everyone who works for RWE. We are on the right track.

What kind of balance sheet will be presented to the members on Sunday?

Pfeifer: If you look at the entire 2023/24 season, we will end up with a break-even result, which is a very good outcome overall. On Sunday, we will mainly be talking about the short fiscal year 2024, i.e., from January 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024. This half of the season will be slightly negative because a few items were already booked in the first half of the season and improved our results there. In addition, there were more home games in the first half of the season.

Rank: It should also be noted that we had extraordinary expenses during this period, for example due to contract terminations, which would otherwise have continued to burden us in the future. We are working hard to clarify many issues in order to minimize the burden in the future.

What is the current situation with regard to marketing?

Rang: Despite the loss of league marketing (central partner of the DFB) and other sponsors, we have managed to improve our position compared to last season. We started at minus €600,000 and are already above last year’s level. Sales results are good; we have spoken to over 100 well-known companies and are in concrete talks with 50 of them. It is a great success that we are above last year’s level with a much smaller team. We are constantly creating new products, which is also important because our rights are very well marketed. We have also managed to welcome the CEOs of 15 very well-known corporations to the stadium. This is an important first step because we are confident that our stadium experience is unique and that this will increase our chances of forming partnerships. In our sales talks, we’re dealing with the topic of the 2023 AGM. Potential partners want to know where RWE is headed. For almost everyone, but more noticeably for big-name companies, it’s often about our public image, continuity, trust, and reliability. We’re on the right track to reach a competitive level in the third division. We currently have half the number of people in sales compared to September 2023, with slightly improved sales levels. That helps on the cost side. Cost discipline is extremely important to Marc and me. You can bring in as much as you want up front, but if you don’t have your costs under control, it won’t work and we won’t achieve our goals.

Pfeifer: When I started, I was asked when Alexander Rang would finally catch up with the DAX companies. Of course, that is and remains an important issue. But quantity is also important alongside quality, not least to avoid becoming dependent on others. We want to retain our existing customers and give everyone the opportunity to support RWE. We will also work hard to ensure that there are concepts for smaller companies so that everyone can find their place here. Of course, we would also like to see more funding from larger companies and an image transfer that always works in both directions. But we must not neglect the broader picture.

Rank: It is important for us to say that we are not financed solely by sponsorship. We also have the hospitality sector, where we have never had such good capacity utilization. All boxes are marketed. We have the areas of ticketing and merchandising, where we are developing positively and have made important decisions for the future. One example is the termination of our cooperation with the BVB fan shop. We are grateful for the support. We have now reassessed the situation and determined that we can generate better returns in other ways. We are growing steadily in the membership area and will take further measures to support this positive development. But you also need to have good, reliable processes in place to collect membership fees. We have neglected this in the past, and we are now working to improve it.

How does the supervisory board currently assess the work of the executive board?

Oelert: We are happy to have found Alexander Rang, a man with a high level of expertise from the region who contributes to the club in ways that go far beyond sales. We are proud that we were able to sign Marc-Nicolai Pfeifer, considering that other good clubs were also interested in him. We have found an experienced expert. I am therefore firmly convinced that we are well positioned to move forward with this team. This will allow RWE to develop.

The contracts of the sporting management team around Christian Flüthmann (sporting director) and Marcus Steegmann (director of professional football) would have expired next summer. This issue has now been resolved.

Pfeifer: We have just succeeded in extending the contracts of our sporting director Christian Flüthmann and our director of professional football Marcus Steegmann on a long-term basis. This decision reflects our commitment to continuity, sustainability, and long-term success. The positive sporting development we have experienced over the past two seasons is largely due to the dedication and expertise of Christian and Marcus.

Rang: Their achievements have strengthened our teams and at the same time conveyed the values of our club. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Christian and Marcus for their dedication and commitment and look forward to the challenges ahead.