Austria rejoices

Fans already queuing up for the derby after setting a record

The fans queued up for the derby.

(Bild: GEPA/zVg)

Ahead of tomorrow's home game against LASK, Austria's supporters secured tickets for the Rapid game. Meanwhile, sporting director Manuel Ortlechner talks about the criticism of himself and Jürgen Werner.

With 8000 members and just as many season tickets, Austria celebrated a new record. Yesterday, the rush in front of the fan store in Favoriten was again great, 90 minutes after the start of sales, 1800 of 2300 tickets for the derby against Rapid in the seventh round had already been sold.

Tomorrow, the Veilchen want to celebrate their second league home win in a row against LASK. "If the lads manage to play at their best and every player pushes themselves to the limit, then we can beat any opponent in Austria. There are only a few teams, and you know the usual suspects, who score consistently. As for the rest, there is a lot of room for improvement. Of course we want to give the fans a home win," says sporting director Manuel Ortlechner.

Manuel Ortlechner

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

"Orti" on criticism of himself and Werner
However, this was not the first time he and sporting director Jürgen Werner were criticized by supporters in the east stand during the last 3-1 win against WAC in the Generali-Arena. "I know the leading figures, I've always been involved with the fan scene, even as a player. I'm in constant contact with our fans and I know the accusations. We at the club also strive for the best, but we have a good idea of what is fundamentally possible. I am of the opinion that our performance spectrum is still not exhausted and that we have a lot of room for improvement. But I can't remember almost a single sporting decision that was made by one person alone," says Ortlechner.

Werner's dominance and opinion nevertheless carry a lot of weight at Violett. The investors hold 49.9 percent of the AG and consist of two groups. Viola Investment GmbH, with backers who have a special relationship with Austria, invested 12.5 million euros and therefore holds 60 percent of the volume. 40 percent is now owned by the investor group "WTF" around Jürgen Werner, which most recently secured the eight percent from the English company Total London Commerce Ltd. If the club wants to buy back the shares from "WTF" by the end of the year, up to eight million euros would be due due to a high interest rate. An amount that Austria does not currently have.

Back to LASK: They have been winless against Linz for seven games, with the last "three-pointer" in Favoriten a long time ago. On February 9, 2016, Austria celebrated a 1-0 win through Kevin Friesenbichler. "They have a lot of quality and a very clear structure with and against the ball. We have to find ways to exploit our strengths again. We absolutely deserved to win against WAC and had many phases in which we brought our game onto the pitch. Unfortunately, that wasn't always the case in Hartberg recently," explained coach Stephan Helm.