Five questions for Oliver Mintzlaff
CEO Oliver Mintzlaff spoke to us in an interview about the first quarter of the season, the search for a new sporting director and the new entry requirements at the Red Bull Arena.
Oliver, the first phase of the new season is behind us – on Tuesday, the team faces SV Babelsberg 03 in the DFB-Pokal, before it’s off to face Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. What are your overall thoughts on the first three months of the season?
"Quite frankly, the first few weeks of the season have been so-so in my books. Obviously we had imagined a very different start to the season, but we were well aware that it would take some time after so many changes both to the team and coaching staff and changes off the pitch. Nobody expected everything to fall into place immediately. Nevertheless, there were a few games, like the 1-0 loss in Mainz and the 1-1 draw in Cologne that we should have won. We could also have taken a point home from Wolfsburg if we had embraced the battle.
Freiburg away could also have been a win, if we’d kept up the pressure after going ahead. These are all points dropped, which hurts a lot. We can’t just use the new structure, new coaching team and the odd signing or departure as a reason for everything, though. It is also down to how the players embrace these games and with what kind of attitude they go out onto the pitch. We have seen a few really good games as well this season, however. For example the 4-0 win against Stuttgart, the 6-0 win over Hertha or the 3-0 against Bochum. The Stuttgart game especially is a good one to think back on.
Now we need to keep working, take the next steps and go into the weekend’s game against Eintracht Frankfurt with courage in order to keep making up lost ground. Fact is, we have actually picked up eleven points from our last five league games, and we want to build on this."
Obviously we had imagined the season to start differently.
Any news regarding the search for a new sporting director? What’s the latest?
"I’ve said since Markus Krösche’s departure that we will look for a new sporting director, and nothing has changed. It should be obvious that we would have a suitable sporting director start today rather than tomorrow. For us, however, finding the right person for the role is still a much more important factor. We’ve taken the time to do this in recent months and we will not allow ourselves to be hurried – quality is taking priority over time here. I can confirm however that we are currently in productive discussions and have the feeling that we’ve identified the right candidates for our club and our philosophy. We are confident that we will be welcoming the new sporting director here very soon."
In this connection, how do you rate the work being done by technical director Christopher Vivell and commercial director sport and CMO Florian Scholz?
"I would like to say very clearly that Christopher Vivell and Florian Scholz have been doing outstanding work in recent months and that thanks to their commitment, we have not been left with a vacuum in the sporting director role. In Christopher Vivell, we have someone who has been active in the RB family for many years now and understands our footballing philosophy perfectly. As technical director, he is in close contact with our coaching staff and his proximity to the football is definitely an asset for RB Leipzig. As commercial director sport and CMO, Florian Scholz played a major role in ensuring that had a successful and smooth transfer period in the summer. These past few months have strengthened us as a team and proven that we can also deliver good work with this setup. In Frank Aehlig we also have an experienced man with lots of years in professional football under his belt. He is also someone who brings a huge network with him and leads the way on all the aspects surrounding our professional team. But as I said before, we wish to complete our management team with a new sporting director, despite the good work done in the absence of one and the extra responsibilities that others have taken on."
Christopher Vivell and Florian Scholz have done outstanding work over the last few months.
Entry at the upcoming RBL home games will be permitted exclusively to vaccinated or recovered (against/from COVID-19) individuals. The fans are divided in their opinions on this, there are supporters and there is opposition. Could you briefly elaborate on how this decision was made?
"Firstly, I and everyone at RB Leipzig are immensely proud that our fans stand by us and support us in such large numbers, be that at home or away in Paris with 1300 travelling fans, or in Freiburg most recently with over 1000. Regarding the new entry requirements, we do not understand why the coronavirus-protection provisions stipulate capacity restrictions for large events with proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test as an entry requirement. From our point of view, this makes no sense for a number of reasons. For one thing, it is done differently in other German states. That means that Bundesliga clubs from different regions, who all implement the same hygiene protocols and follow all the regulations that are demanded, have to carry out games under completely different conditions – some with half capacity, some with full. This makes no sense and puts us at a clear competitive disadvantage. We have also proven week in week out now that our stadium experience is absolutely safe, thanks to our hygiene concept. It does leave me somewhat puzzled that Christmas markets seem to be completely free of any regulations, but our capacity continues to be restricted when negative tests are accepted. Since we carry full responsibility for RB Leipzig, including the finances, we have decided after long, arduous discussions to implement a vaccinated and recovered only entry requirement for the duration of Saxony’s current coronavirus provisions. We hope the next draft from the end of November contains a change to allowing full capacity with negative tests.
There were a lot of changes at the Red Bull Arena this summer. How satisfied are you with the development of the stadium’s infrastructure?
"We’ve put a lot of work into the arena in recent years and invested a lot into modernising the ground. We talk a lot about the Red Bull Arena being a home for our fans, and we would obviously like to develop it in a way that makes our brilliant supporters feel right at home there. This means we are always very pleased to see these changes becoming increasingly visible, for example, through the newly installed lighting system or the imminent new seat design, which will see the Red Bull Arena filled exclusively with red seats from early 2022. Even though some of the procedures at the ground still need some time to take shape and things certainly didn’t go perfectly on the first few matchdays, we are very pleased with the progress that has been made. Nevertheless, I would like to wholeheartedly apologise once again for the inconveniences caused. We are well aware that certain things such as the opening of the kiosks or the entrances and exits did not run completely smoothly. We are working hard on fixing these things and are confident that the stadium experience will be even better in future."