Chapter 832： The last fig leaf

In Germany, apart from the estrangement between the east and the west caused by World War II, there have been many contradictions between the south and the north.

Especially with the decline of some heavy industrial cities in the north and the influx of immigrants over the years, the contradictions between the north and the south have intensified. Although they will not cause conflicts, there are many psychological prejudices.

In recent years, although there are big cities like Hamburg and Berlin in the north, they are still lagging behind cities such as Munich in the south in terms of livable environment. The latter is more suitable for living in both the climate and the environment, and it is the favorite gathering of rich Germans. Place of residence.

But for some wealthy northerners who are separated from the south, letting them live in Munich in the south is undoubtedly contrary to their will. Therefore, they are more willing to choose Switzerland in the south.

Especially the Zurich area.

The famous super-rich in Hamburg, ranked 39th on the Forbes list in Europe and 95th on the Forbes list in the world. The home of Klaus Michael Kuhn, a shipping giant with a net worth of more than US$10 billion, is located in the southeast of Zurich. Department, Skidregy, Schwyz.

The 77-year-old Kuhn has lived in Switzerland for many years. Because he is engaged in the shipping industry, his mansion is designed to resemble the command cabin of an ocean-going ship. The interior is extremely luxurious and has always been reported by the media. Very few.

Although the rich German man is already in semi-retirement, he is still very dedicated to Hamburg.

The most famous is that in 2008, in order to keep Hapag-Lloyd, the world's leading container ship operator with a history of more than 160 years, in Germany, Kuhn and the Hamburg city government issued an appeal to form a joint venture with many investors The consortium completed the acquisition of Hapag-Lloyd.

This acquisition has further improved Kuhn's reputation and status in Hamburg.

Not only that, Kuhn is a well-known fan of the Hamburg team.

Kuhn can be seen almost every time the Hamburg club has a crisis.

The Kuhn family ranks eleventh on the European Rich List, and the Otto family, worth more than 18 billion U.S. dollars, is also known as the two major beneficiaries of Hamburg.

Therefore, every time Hamburg has the slightest disturbance, they will be contacted as soon as possible.

This time is no exception.

Near noon, the sun was shining, and Kuhn Manor welcomed Hamburg guests.

The butler recognized it at a glance, and the leader was Alexander Otto of the Otto family.

He is the younger brother of Michael Otto, the leader of the Otto Group, and is mainly responsible for Europe's largest shopping mall chain development group.

Don't underestimate this group. Although it is not comparable to the older brother's Alto Group, its annual turnover is as high as 20 billion euros. It has nearly 200 large shopping malls in Europe and can be called the European retail industry hegemon.

Unlike his brother Michael Otto who is keen on business, his younger brother Alexander Otto is more keen on football and has been an avid Hamburg fan since he was a child. Therefore, he and Kuhn are the most famous and influential among the representatives of Hamburg fans.

Also accompanied by Bernhorst and Sergey Babarec, they are Hamburg's foremost local rich.

Basically, only the Burger Club can make so many rich people appear in the same place at the same time.

Klaus Michael Kuhn obviously knew their intentions a long time ago, so he talked with them in the study.

The topic of discussion is undoubtedly the current situation in Hamburg.

"For the past few days, Kerhof has been calling me, saying he wanted to meet me."

In the study, Klaus Michael Kuhn formed a circle with the visitors.

This seventy-seven-year-old, silver-haired old man speaks slowly and calmly, as if nothing was taken care of.

But everyone listened to him attentively, and willingly followed his advice.

"But, I didn't see him, so I didn't answer the phone at all."

After hearing this, everyone was a little surprised.

Unexpectedly, Kuhn actually moved this time.

"In the past few years, we have paid enough for this club, but in their eyes, all this seems to have become a matter of course."

Kuhn's words were recognized by everyone present.

To a certain extent, Hamburg's management is this mindset.

In any case, no matter how they toss, it doesn't matter in the end, anyway, fans will come out to support the bottom.

If it's a big deal, change the leadership

But after so many years, the leadership has changed wave after wave, what is the result?

"Remember, in the 1980s, South Bayern, North Hamburg, and the North and South duo represented the highest level of German football. The duo was known as the North-South Derby. What was Hamburg at that time?"

This group of wealthy fans present, even the youngest Alexander Otto, are witnesses of Hamburg’s most glorious period. At that time, Otto was just a passionate young man who was extremely eager to play for Hamburg, and his heart The idols gallop together on the green field.

This is why he has been the representative of Hamburg fans in the past few years.

"At that time, Bayern Munich was not as good as us. Even they were in a financial crisis and almost died. But in the end? They not only survived, they also completed their rise in the 1990s, taking advantage of the TV broadcast. The craze has established their position as the hegemon of the Bundesliga in one fell swoop."

"But as us, Hamburg has been in a deteriorating situation and worsening in the past two to three decades. It has long lost the style of the Bundesliga giants, and even the dignity of the team has been lost again and again."

"When it comes to money, we will not lose to Bayern Munich, and when it comes to players, our foundation is still not bad. But why can Bayern Munich get out of the predicament and establish the Bundesliga superpower status, but our Hamburg is getting worse and worse. , That’s all for the first team, the youth academy also exists in name only, and even the team’s financial income has problems..."

Kuhn said that at the end, everyone present was equally angry.

Now everyone says that Bayern Munich is the Bundesliga champion, and other teams are simply hard to beat.

But how many people know how many years have Bayern Munich's rise?

Really establish his dominance of the Bundesliga, that is only a thing since the 1990s.

As Hamburg, which also has superior objective conditions, it is in a quagmire.

In the final analysis, management is incompetent

In the past, they were not clear about the **** things of the management. It was just that they were required to pay some money, but if they were to be involved in the daily operation of the team, they were not good at it. I don't have the time and energy.

Therefore, they have always kept one eye open and closed one eye. As long as it is not excessive, they will pretend not to know.

But in the past two years, the situation has gotten worse.

It was almost relegated last season.

You know, Hamburg is the only Bundesliga team that has not been relegated.

For Hamburg fans, this is the last fig leaf of this traditional giant

But that group of **** couldn't even keep this last fig leaf.

Now that something like this is happening again, how can people bear it?

"How is the team's situation recently?" Kuhn asked again.

"It's okay. I just won the last warm-up match. The fans are still looking forward to Tuchel's team."

Kuhn listened, nodded, and sighed, "Yes, the biggest wish of fans is not to watch their team get stronger and better?"

But soon, Kuhn turned to look at Alexander Otto.

"Alexander, this time the Bild thing, do you think it has anything to do with Thomas Lake and Beiersdorf?"

Alexander Otto shook his head, "I have investigated, and it was my housemaid who reported the secret to the Bild. She was bought by a reporter from the Bild before and revealed to the other party that my house was leaked. This time, she overheard. It’s my conversation with Thomas Lake and others, so..."

"In addition, there is another one, which is said to be in the club's financial department. He has been in the position for more than six years, but has been fired by Thomas Lake. It seems that it has nothing to do with them."

Kuhn smiled faintly, noncommittal.

"It doesn't matter whether it has anything to do with it or not. The important thing is whether they have the ability to carry this Hamburg well, is it possible, before I die, let me see Hamburg regain the glory of the former king of German football."

When they heard Kuhn say this, everyone noticed that he was seventy-seven years old.

Although the body is still healthy, he is getting older after all.

Over the years, he rarely even went to the Hamburg game, saying that he was afraid of being stimulated.

“It’s needless to say that Beiersdorf’s abilities needless to say. When he was expelled from the Hamburg management, we also retained him. Tuchel’s coaching level is first-rate in Germany, even Compared with Kloplov and others, it’s not too much, as for Thomas Lake..."

Speaking of this, Alexander Otto paused, “I have specifically asked someone to know about him. He is very capable. He was originally an elite cultivated by Deutsche Bank, but he chose to leave. It shows that he wants to rely on his personal ability. A career."

"The various actions taken since he came to Hamburg, although a bit of suspicion of suppressing Kerhof, are still based on the long-term."

After Thomas Lake took office, he first swiftly removed redundant staff, cleaned up the club's financial system, and reduced all aspects of expenses, and then invited Bernhard Pieters to reorganize the youth academy.

To put it mildly, Hamburg’s youth academy is in Germany, which is ranked low.

What's not known is that as early as a few years ago, their wealthy fans had raised funds to reorganize the youth training for Hamburg.

As a result, the money was given, but the youth training has never been seen.

Kuhn and others did not know how many follow-up questions about this matter, but the result was nothing.

"Alexander, I heard that your company has cooperation with Yang Huan?" Kuhn asked suddenly.

As soon as Yang Huan was mentioned, everyone present suddenly looked over.

Alexander Otto nodded, "We have close cooperation with the electronic gift card company under WeChat, and we are also very interested in building two shopping malls in the new stadium of Inter Milan and the new stadium of Atletico Madrid."

"Then what do you think of him?" Kuhn asked concerned.

Alexander Otto shook his head. "I have seen him several times in public, but I don’t know exactly what kind of person he is. However, judging from his management of Southampton and Atletico Madrid, if he is interested If the Bundesliga develops, then Hamburg's results will never be bad."

Kuhn listened to , a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and he nodded, obviously knowing it.

"Can you arrange a time for us to meet him?" Kuhn asked.

"This should be no problem." Alexander Otto nodded. "I'll call Thomas Lake and he should be able to arrange it."

Kuhn nodded and said nothing more.

Everyone can see that he has completely despaired of Hamburg's management.

In the past, without a more suitable candidate, he was forced to compromise.

But now, he wants to make a better choice.

After all, they like the burger itself, not the management

Even if the burger is good, they don’t care who owns the club.

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