WSV blog: up or down?

The Wuppertaler SV general assembly overwhelmingly voted in all the representatives of the “WSV Initiative 2.0”, kicking out the old Runge-mafia that had run the club into the ground. In the next few days the decision on whether to go into administration should be resolved. There is still a chance that it can be avoided. Apparently Runge realized that his Reign of Error had come to an end, and he indicated willingness to negotiate to cancel the debt (from his “loans” to the club) pending some tax implications. Of course, his company has withdrawn sponsorship and it’s not clear that administration can be avoided – which was the WSV 2.0 position anyway.

Administration of course means automatic relegation to the Oberliga. On the field, WSV collapsed to 15th, which puts them on the bubble. Champions SpFr Lotte failed against RB Leipzig, and are back in the Regionalliga West. However from what I’ve been able to piece together, some of the various Oberliga clubs have declined promotion or can’t get (or didn’t apply for) a 4th division license, so WSV could theoretically survive in the Regionalliga. Of course, this will only be possible if the debts are cleared, which is what the membership and new leaders have demanded.

Another positive of administration and the new start is that the hated “Borussia” will be dropped. This was of course a result of the outrageous merger engineered by Runge and the corrupt Borussia bosses a few years ago. All the fans opposed it, but it was rammed through by boards. Borussia was actually a competitive club, albeit with a small fan base. It was a disgrace that they had to disappear because of the greed of the boards, and it ended up with no benefit to WSV.

11 thoughts on “WSV blog: up or down?

  1. Do you know which clubs have not applied for promotion?

    As it stands Lippstadt and Wattenscheid are in the promotion spots in the Westfalenliga with one game to go and Uerdingen have won the Niederrheinliga. I would have expected Wattenscheid and Uerdingen would want promotion at least.

    The Mittlerheinliga is a bit more complicated as 6 teams could still win that league, only two of which I’ve ever heard of! (Euskirchen and Windeck)

    I guess it does need only one club to say they don’t want promotion thwen WSV are safe, if they can find a bit of cash! If they did go down, which Oberliga would they end up in?

    • WSV would go to the Oberliga Niederrhein. Actually, that is where WSV-II is currently playing, and are a respectable 8th out of 20. I think moost WSV fans would actually prefer this scenario combined with administration, as this would mean a true new start. As it is, all teh player contracts from the Regionalliga are being examined. Any player requests to be released is automatically approved. Former player Achim Weber is the Sports-Director, and he will extend offers to “some” players once it’s known where WSV is playing next season. What a mess :)

      From what I’ve seen, it’s the Mittelrhein club that won’t be going up. Sounded like none of the clubs have applied for a license, and one of the few that did are pretty much out of the race. It’s pretty hard to get detailed info, but from some of the local papers I read some indications that the 15th spot in the Regionalliga West (where WSV ended up) looks safe because of the Mittelrhein situation.

      • Getting relegated is NEVER good no matter what gloss some people put on it. My team were relegated to the 3rd level of English football a few seasons ago – ‘it’ll allows to regroup’ they said – now we are stuck there with little propect of promotion and dwindling attendances!

        • In WSV’s case, the issue isn’t so much relegation…it’s the removal of the debt burden through administration. In German football, this means an automatic relegation of at least one division. Considering that WSV in theory could get relegated anyway, the Oberliga seems an acceptable choice, and if you are going down, make sure you fix your finances. In the West, Essen and Uerdingen are two clubs to have done this, and perhaps Wattenscheid will be the next ex-Bundesligist to accomplish this.

          • Which English team is that?

            Relegation to clear debts/remove bad owners can work. In England Exeter have managed to climb back to League 1 from the conference for example, and I would expect Portsmouth to return to at least the Championship now there are fan owned.

            As for WSV, if the current board are that bad, then kicking them out and being relegated one league would be good. At least in the Oberliga they would be the big fish and might gwet used to winning games again! (Thus cheering up our webmaster no end! 😉 ) Couple of interesting opponents for WSV tho, TuRU Düsseldorf and SW Essen could prove though opponents.

          • Yep, it would be nice to report an occasional victory, even if it is against Sportfreunde Donberg or Blau-Weiss Essen :) Having watched a lot of the video from the press conferences, I think the new board wants to move the club in the right direction, and in this case, that first step may actually have to be backwards. Yesterday the new board did make the move for insolvency, so now thats settled.

          • Which English team is that?

            Have a guess. I’ll give you a clue – we are one of 3 teams to have won all 4 divisions and we have been waiting longer than anyone else in the football world for our next championship!

          • I’m going to take a guess then and say Preston. (Could maybe also be Wolves!)

  2. What about the compulsory relegation of WSV II? Won’t that affect player recruitment and local player development?

    • Actually, probably won’t make much of a difference. In fact, most of the WSV-II players will probably get promoted to WSV-I, along with a few holdovers from the current Regionalliga squad. However previous management did a pretty good job of stripping the club of talent (among others a 30 goal scorer let go mid season for nothing).

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