“Social media is merciless and the media lets itself get carried away by it” : Borussia Dortmund CEO puts a hold on all the criticism received this season

Although Hans-Joachim Watzke is on the exit ramp as CEO, he has still come out and tried to calm the situation which has been created via the club’s poor start to the season.

The club that has one of the largest fanbases in the world has had the image of being second fiddle to heavyweights Bayern Munich for some time now, but even that had gotten into doubts due to their below par performances in recent years. Having not won a league title since 2011, Dortmund have come closer but have failed to go over the line.

Just this year the German club found themselves in the Champions League final, which obviously shows progress; but new head coach Nuri Sahin has not been able to extend that momentum since the start of the new season. BVB currently stand at fifth place, a whole ten points below their Bavarian arch rivals who they are about to host next week in the season’s first Der-Klassiker.

This has caused a lot of backlash and distrust on Sahin among fans on social media, who believe they are owed better performances after enduring mediocrity for many years, while some have just given up expecting anything significant.

But Watzke thinks otherwise, and recently addressed how fans should be more patient.

“Solidarity has been replaced by impatience” : Hans-Joachim Watzke

During the club’s AGM on Sunday, the outgoing CEO was stern with his belief over the team and the manager, as he described that the club is doing just fine and wanted fans to not get carried away by social media’s influence.

“I sometimes have the feeling that solidarity has been replaced by impatience. Are we fighting against relegation? We’ve just come out of the CL final and were millimeters away from the Bundesliga title the year before. We’re more financially stable than the vast majority of clubs.”

“I get the feeling that there’s always unrest. Social media is merciless and the media lets itself get carried away by it. And maybe we do too a little. But we can’t do that as BVB. Our strength has always been solidarity. Borussia Dortmund doesn’t mean creating a shitstorm, it means sticking together.” the 65-year-old addressed.

One of the criticisms have been the lack of external voices at the club, which some feel is the reason Nuri Sahin still has his job and is going to cause the downfall long-term wise. Even Lothar Matthaus recently wrote about this topic in his column for Sky Sport, suggesting that some ‘outside input’ might be good for the club.

“Dortmund does not have an easy environment. You only have to look at the stands. There are people there who all have their own opinions. Matthias Sammer and Hans-Joachim Watzke are two very critical people. Lars Ricken and Sebastian Kehl may hold back a little. Sven Mislintat is also still involved.”

“I don’t know yet whether BVB has unity in the stands. They are all people who have made a name for themselves in Dortmund. Maybe too much club history isn’t the right thing either. Some outside input from time to time might not be so bad.” Lothar Matthaus wrote on his column for Sky Sport.

But Watzke thinks the opposite, as he loves the idea of having all the important figures of the club come from their own academy. He also believes how other clubs would have the chance to do the same thing.

“We are proud that our sporting director, CEO, and coach come from our own academy, Sebastian Kehl has been a Borusse for 23 years. The three of them have won everything. That’s supposed to be bad? That’s Borussia Dortmund! Most clubs would like to have that.” Watzke said.

Internal affairs of a club coming out to the public media is never a sign of a stable environment, as proven before by other clubs who have suffered greatly because of it. But Watzke’s stand was one of confidence, who believes in the club greatly and wants fans to have more patience in order to see the best results.