SportBild Report: Internal academic strife threatens to sink any possible Rangnick-Schalke deal
Germany's most prominent sporting tabloid reports that there exists significant division within the Schalke 04 administrative ranks about the possible appointment of Ralf Rangnick as sporting director.
An article appearing in German "Boulevard-Zeitung" SportBild claims that current head of the Schalke supervisory board Dr. Jens Buchta strongly opposes the plan to bring in Ralf Rangnick to serve as the club's rebuilder-in-chief.
The idea to lure Rangnick into the club was evidently the brainchild of board member Dr. Stefan Gesenhues, whom multiple reports suggest was labelled a perfidious troublemaker for even broaching the idea.
SportBild and the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung go on to report that Dr. Gesenhues may even be dismissed from his post at the board. Dr. Buchta is said to prefer current RB Leipzig sporting executive Markus Krösche for the vacant S04 position.
In an official statement, the club said very little. Rangnick was hailed as a "highly regarded professional" and "welcome ex-Schalker" in a short release on Friday evening.
Naturally, it's safe to assume that the German tabloids exaggerate some details of the internal strife for sensational effect. In nevertheless becomes highly difficult to envision Rangnick accepting the position now that such news has been leaked.
Local newspaper "Ruhr Nachrichten" even cited its own internal sources to report that Rangnick did not attain a support majority of board members in a Friday vote.
The dispute illustrates the grave challenges a large and historically proud club such as Schalke shall have over the course of what looks to be a long rebuilding process. Decision-making committees full of prominent intellectuals can often be expected to fracture along such lines.