Rot-Weiss Essen is looking forward to a really nice Christmas and New Year. After an outstanding season, even boss Marcus Uhlig is giving us permission to dream.

Staying up, winning the Lower Rhine Cup and now 33 points after 19 games, making fourth place in the league. On top of that, RWE is in the Lower Rhine Cup quarter-finals: Rot-Weiss Essen can look back on a really good 2023 and, above all, an outstanding last six months of the year.

The chairman of the board, Marcus Uhlig, also thinks so. Forecasting spoke to the RWE boss again just before Christmas. In the interview, he also emphasizes why he has never been a fan of Bengal fire, even earlier in his days as an RWE fan in the stands.

Marcus Uhlig, RWE goes into the winter break with 33 points – two questions: How many points were the target before the winter? And: What would you have said to the people who predicted these 33 points before the season?

Before the season, we had set ourselves the internal goal of doing better than in 2022/2023, i.e. a mid-table position in the table, ideally in single figures. We had set ourselves a target of 50 points for the entire season. However, we did not formulate this objective because it sounds good, but because we were convinced that we could achieve it given the overall situation. Regardless of this, we would have of course considered precisely this forecast – i.e. spending the winter in fourth place, level on points with third place with 33 points and one game in hand – to be very ambitious, to be honest.

What was your best moment in 2023 and in the past half-season?

There wasn’t just one moment. The moment we knew we’d avoided relegation, winning the Lower Rhine Cup, the emotional wins against Münster, Bielefeld and Halle, and in Dortmund and Duisburg were definitely among them. But also the successful extraordinary annual general meeting in November.

And the worst, the most bitter moment?

Definitely the Annual General Meeting in June, which went badly in every respect.

Before the Lübeck game, former Essen youth player Danny Cornelius said that the RWE fans played a major role in the team’s success. Do you agree, and how would you rate the support of the fans compared to last season?

I agree. But I want to include the entire stadium, all the stands: the atmosphere, the support this season is outstanding. That applies to the Hafenstraße as well as in all away games. Since the summer of 2023, a lot has grown together again here, the audience and the team have become a real unit again.

Even as a football fan, I can’t really do anything with pyro. I also accept other opinions on this, but for me personally, anything that burns, flashes, smokes and bangs has always been more threatening than fascinating.

Marcus Uhlig

There was a “pyro show” on the west stand against Lübeck. As the chairman of Rot-Weiss Essen, what is your position on pyrotechnics?
As the chairman of the board of RWE, I was not pleased with this massive pyrotechnic display. The financial implications are well known, especially since the number of pyrotechnic elements is a decisive factor in the assessment of the penalty. And it was exorbitantly high against Lübeck.

And: What does football fan Marcus Uhlig think about Bengal fires in stadiums?

Even the football fan in me can’t really do anything with pyro. I also accept other opinions on this, but for me personally, anything that burns, flashes, smokes and bangs has always been more threatening than fascinating. What do you actually say about the promotion fight in the Regionalliga West? Who do you want to make it into the 3rd division?

We are, of course, keeping a very close eye on developments in the Regionalliga West. The race for promotion is exciting, with more teams involved than in the last two years. Bocholt and Aachen are, of course, favorites at the moment, but I wouldn’t write off RWO just yet either.

What do you think about 1. FC Saarbrücken’s sensational run in the DFB Cup? Are you a little envious or just full of respect?

I’m not envious of Saarbrücken, I’m more full of respect. They beat a second division team and two first division teams, which of course reminds me of our 2020/2021 cup run, when we beat Bielefeld, Düsseldorf and Leverkusen to reach the quarter-finals in one go. It just goes to show that in football, many things are possible that actually seem impossible. And that’s exactly what makes this competition so appealing…

A little dreaming is allowed at Christmas time: Why will the RWE fans have plenty of reason to celebrate at the end of May 2024…?

Every fan is allowed to dream. We are in the quarter-finals of the Niederrhein Cup and will spend the winter in the league tied on points with third place. I’m certainly not going to make any flippant comments here, but I can assure you that we will do everything we can in both competitions to end the season as successfully as possible. We’ll see what the outcome is in May 2024…