Letsch and Hoeneß comment on match delay: "I thought, for God's sake put this banner away."
VfB Stuttgart have issued their official club statement after banners hung by their traveling supporters caused a long-delay ahead of the second-half kickoff in today's away loss at Bochum. The club's statement remains careful, meek, and mild.
VfB trainer Sebastian Hoeneß and his counterpart Thomas Letsch also commented on the matter during their respective post-match press conferences.
Hoeneß seemed visibly annoyed that his team had to "warm up again" in frigid temperatures. Letsch praised the spirit of both fan-bases and revealed his thoughts on the stubborn stand-off between the Stuttgart fan-base and the VfL stadium security staff.
On a weekend during which continued fan-protests against the recently DFL-approved investor deal led to match interruptions across the Bundesrepublik, an incident not directly related to the protests the start of the second-half of Stuttgart's visit to Bochum had to be delayed for over 45 minutes when banners from the VfB support were ruled to have obstructed emergency exit lanes by the Bochum stadium security staff.
VfB trainer Sebastian Hoeneß and his counterpart Thomas Letsch also commented on the matter during their respective post-match press conferences.
Hoeneß seemed visibly annoyed that his team had to "warm up again" in frigid temperatures. Letsch praised the spirit of both fan-bases and revealed his thoughts on the stubborn stand-off between the Stuttgart fan-base and the VfL stadium security staff.
VfB's official statement on the matter merely called for "meticulous investigation of the matter" while admitting that any fan-action endangering "fan-safety" served no one. Stuttgart did post more introspective thoughts from supporters on its X (formerly twitter) social media feed. The critical comments of some VfB ultras were allowed to stand.
In their respective post-match pressers, trainers Sebastian Hoeneß and Thomas Letsch commented on the incident as well. Hoeneß looked visibly annoyed - perhaps relating more to the fact that his team just lost - and made some semi-critical comments before walking his words back carefully.
"There's a drop in energy after playing a first-half of football," Hoeneß noted, "and the risk that one can't ramp it back up increases when there's a delay. It's a difficult situation."
"But in the final analysis," Hoeneß was quick to continue, "the lads were able to warm themselves back up and get into fighting shape. It's certainly not a situation that we hope frequently repeats itself."
"I found the communication between the refereeing staff and the coaches to have been quite good," Letsch added, "We were kept up-to-date and its important that all parties involved remain calm."
"But it remains aggravating," Letsch continued, "I'm never happy to see such a game interrupted for such unnecessary reasons. Both teams have great fan-bases; something that was also shown here today."
"There was noise and atmosphere today," Letsch concluded, "It was quintessential 'Ruhr-stadion'. I simply thought to myself, 'for God's sake, put this banner away'. There's no need for [either side] to lose face."
Der VfB Stuttgart nimmt zu den Vorkommnissen, die zu teilweise starken Verzögerungen bei An- und Wiederanpfiff in Bochum führten, Stellung.#VfB | #BOCVfB 1:0 | Zum Statement 🔗⤵https://t.co/GaAEtXCqKc
— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) January 20, 2024