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The cancellation came even faster than expected.

“Unfortunately,” he sees “due to the numerous imponderables within the club currently not in a position to take on sporting responsibility at Schalke 04”, Ralf Rangnick said in a statement on Saturday.

The dream of the return of the supposed savior has burst - although the people who had pushed his commitment as sports director with power had assessed the motivation situation of the 62-year-old very differently last Wednesday.

“We have the impression that Ralf Rangnick is very keen,” said Frank Habericket, spokesman for the “Tradition and Future Group”.

A mistake.

240 million euros in debt

Now Schalke has to shape the future without a nod.

It happened what Dr.

Jens Buchta, the recently much criticized chairman of the supervisory board of the bottom of the table, feared from the start.

He thinks, the lawyer said a week ago, that Rangnick was already out of reach for the traditional club, which is in debt with around 240 million euros, because of the financial conditions with which he would have to live at Schalke.

Just because everyone suddenly wanted Rangnick, Buchta had started negotiations anyway.

They have now failed.

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But due to the foreseeable cancellation of the former architect of the successful models TSG Hoffenheim and RB Leipizig, far more has failed.

The media din and the conscious emotionalization of the fans, with whose help Rangnick should be pushed through, Schalke is now falling on his feet.

It was right to try to get Rangnick, even if the chances of success were slim - it was fatal, however, how the attempts were made to enforce the Rangnick personnel internally.

Rangnick as coach of the miners in April 2011

Source: dpa

A week ago, the - then still secret - opposition group launched the name Rangnick in public in order to take the board of directors by surprise.

Obviously, it wasn't just about the new sports directorate, but also about power-political interests.

The coup worked: An online petition was started, and over 50,000 supporters campaigned for Rangnick.

At the same time, the resignation of the supervisory board was requested.

Krösche's rejection hurts

What went down: Two days later, when the Rangnick hype was approaching its climax, the supervisory board candidate canceled.

Markus Krösche, sports director of RB Leipzig, explained that he was not available.

That was no wonder: When the overwhelming majority raves about Rangnick, no other Schalke does themselves - especially not a highly regarded representative of the younger generation of managers like Krösche.

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He now hopes, explained Rangnick, "that all members and supporters will succeed in pooling all their strengths in order to make Schalke a unit again on and outside the square and to lead it to the top".

That should be even more difficult after the events of last week.