Although it didn’t get as heated as expected, the Rot-Weiss Essen AGM produced few winners. A commentary.

It was a memorable general meeting for Rot-Weiss Essen. There had been a lot of speculation beforehand about what would happen. This was partly due to a poster displayed before the start of the AGM, which read: “Do not discharge the supervisory board.”

In the end, the conclusion remains: although the figures are right and the pros have won twice recently, it feels like almost everyone involved is leaving this day as a loser. The executive board and supervisory board were discharged for the 2023 financial year and the shortened 2024 financial year (January 1 to June 30, 2024), but that’s where the good news ends.

Because……

in the run-up to the event, many RWE members were upset about the supervisory board or the current executive board, which had been too invisible up to that point, whether in forums, social media, or in the stadium with posters. At the members’ meeting, they missed the opportunity to ask critical questions. Almost everything was waved through, with virtually no questions asked. So it can’t be that bad if an opportunity to ask questions is so carelessly missed….

Nevertheless, the members sent a signal and replaced two people on the election committee. Dieter Gruber and Klaus Grewer are out, Nicole Neugebauer and Stefan Lantermann are moving up. This means that the election committee cannot continue its work as planned, which also makes it and the supervisory board losers, because now they must fear more than ever that in the coming year, before the election of the new supervisory board, candidates from the election committee who see a different path for RWE than the current supervisory board will be waved through and nominated.

.. Before the election of the election committee, the supervisory board had switched to attack mode. This Sunday, they were the only ones to show their claws. And they did so twice in the form of supervisory board boss Lothar Oelert. First, he accused former board member Sascha Peljhan of trying to push through certain personnel decisions by linking them to his sponsorship.

Then he announced that Peljhan had granted former boss Marcus Uhlig a salary advance of around 15,000 euros. This had since been repaid, but was possibly not in line with the articles of association, according to Oelert. So what apparently still needs to be clarified, which makes it even more questionable to go public with a process that is apparently not even complete.

If these allegations are true, they naturally cast a shadow over the tenure of Uhlig and Peljhan – who are now also among the losers of the day. In the end, there was more whispering about this topic than about the rest of the event.

But after these publications, everyone will understand that, despite many denials, the relationship between the supervisory board and Peljhan/Uhlig could hardly have been worse. Time and again – including at the beginning of 2024 – it was said that they were working well together, but this can now be dismissed as a fairy tale.

And the members? They swallowed even these two announcements almost without question, as if the drinks at the Essen trade fair had been laced with sedative tea. Not even the members who had announced in the run-up to the AGM that they would show up on Sunday to ask critical questions with a view to the 2025 supervisory board elections made an appearance.

Perhaps they were simply satisfied with the figures presented at the beginning of the event, as were the rest of those present. Because they were actually okay; it’s not a given that a third-division club can present a mini profit. This is still attributable to the Uhlig and Peljhan era, just for the record.

The outlook also seems promising if the figures presented by board member Alexander Rang for sponsorship, jersey sales, and hospitality continue to develop in this way.

One thing is certain: there are still two winners. Marc-Nicolai Pfeifer and Rang presented a respectable balance sheet and an optimistic outlook. Financially, there have been worse times at RWE, that’s for sure.

But behind the scenes, things seem to have been worse than one could have imagined, given that issues such as those raised on Sunday were not dealt with internally but made public at an AGM.

And those who dish it out must also be able to take it. It will be interesting to see whether there will be any reactions to Oelert’s statements. Things are unlikely to calm down at RWE for the time being after this AGM.