FC St. Pauli revamps management structure
Wednesday, 24. July 2019, 12:00 Uhr
FC St. Pauli is breaking new ground with the establishment of a more contemporary management structure. Responsibility for financial, organisational and social affairs will be shared across multiple shoulders in future rather than being concentrated in an overarching general manager. Accordingly, the position occupied by the soon-to-depart Andreas Rettig will be broken down into four new director level roles with effect from 1 August 2019 in the following areas: operations, marketing, sales and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
The operations department, under which the finance department will also operate, will be headed up by Martin Urban, the former commercial director of Firstelephant GmbH. The other three departments will be fronted by existing area heads Martin Drust (marketing), Bernd von Geldern (sales) and Michael Thomsen (CSR). The four directors will report to the honorary managing board, which will retain overall responsibility for running the club.
The new management level will be completed by Thomas Michael (amateur sport). Roger Stilz (Head of the Academy) will also attend the meetings of the directors to intensify the connection from the club administration to the training centre and the development of the St. Pauli youth programme. The position of director of sport, which is currently occupied by Andreas Bornemann, will remain unchanged. He will also take part in the meetings of the directors. The communications department will operate as a specialist team in the new structure and report directly to the managing board.
Commenting on the decision to restructure the club, supervisory board chair Sandra Schwedler said: "The supervisory board has elected to take another step forward in the modernisation of the club structures. This step is of vital importance for our ability to operate as a club. We welcome the openness of the staff in joining us on our journey with more responsibility and a modern team approach. The managing board will continue to represent the club externally as its executive body but will now enjoy the support of a broader base."
Club president Oke Göttlich also welcomes the new structure: "The departure of Andreas Rettig allows us to spread the increasingly diverse and dynamic tasks and challenges in the competitive environment of a professional football club across multiple shoulders and experts in line with our modern management aspirations and ideas. Thanks to our excellent, enthusiastic and team-driven staff, we have taken a further step towards reducing our dependence on individuals in future."
