Willi Lemke is the Werder face of the last decades. The Corona crisis is causing the people of Bremen and their ex-manager great concern, but also a spark of hope.
Willi Lemke, long-time manager at Werder Bremen, has spoken about the corona crisis. He is particularly worried about his green and white club.
Like all other people, Lemke and his wife are changing their everyday lives because of the pandemic. Apart from a cancelled holiday, he takes the restrictions calmly.
The couple still go running regularly, he revealed in an interview with the BILD newspaper: “Of course, we always keep the necessary distance.
He likes to help with shopping in the neighborhood and supplying older people with medication. He is also involved in an online English language course.
Longing for the Bundesliga
However, while the 73-year-old could experience “an extraordinary amount” of social contact via (video) calls and text messages, he is currently missing something in particular: the Bundesliga.
No wonder, Lemke was actively involved in the Bundesliga for decades. In the Lemke era (1981 to 1999), Werder re-established itself in the upper house of parliament after the only second division season to date (1980/81) and won the championship in 1988 and 1993. Until 2016 he sat on the supervisory board of the Bremen club and was able to celebrate further titles with Werder, even after his career he remained associated with the club.
Despite football-free weekends, he warns against returning to the Bundesliga too soon. For the sake of public health, he forbids saying, “We’ll finish the season in June.” Lemke considers such statements “totally unreliable”. Flexibility, especially with international dates, is therefore crucial.
He would wait even longer and, if necessary, play the championship until the end of the year, but at least with spectators and without risk. Ghost games are “no fun for me at all”, said Lemke about the possible scenarios. And: “Stop now and say Bayern Munich is German champion, that would be cheating.”
As a justification, the former creator of the Bremen team cites above all the fact that “no game plan in the world” is worth “even one human life being sacrificed for it”. Football, the most beautiful trivial thing in the world, is a leisure activity that enjoys lower priority, especially in the current situation.
Waiver of salary as a positive signal
If things go on like this, Lemke hopes that the people of Bremen will catch up. Because in addition to the decline, there is the threat of a huge minus of 25 million euros, as the BILD reported.
The players would be entitled to the full salary. In view of 50 percent of the total budget, Lemke suggests a salary waiver of 10 to 20 percent. Management and the supervisory board could follow suit.
Lemke, who as a manager is familiar with the contracts himself, says: “Even if the amounts to be saved in the process were not very relevant, it would certainly be a positive signal for all those who fear Werder.