Despite all the persistent slogans and motivational speeches, the 32-year-old vice-president of FC St. Margrethen, Mailinda Soleimani, has given up. The centrist announced this on Wednesday through his Facebook account.

The ex-vice president does not name the reasons. Allegedly to avoid speculation.

“It came as a surprise,” Natal Schnetzer says of Soleimani’s departure. He was President of FC St. Margrethen from 2010 to 2018. It is reported that the current publisher of the online portal “rheintal24” also learned from reliable sources that the head of sports will also no longer perform his functions.

The sports director’s hands are tied

A meeting was reportedly held at the Rheinau Sports Complex in St. Margrethen on Tuesday, where Majlinda Soleimani and Dash Bektashi submitted their resignations. “The reasons with sports director Bektashi are obvious,” says Schnetzer.

Together with coach Florian Scharrenbroch, he wanted to strengthen the team with new players during the summer break. However, this was not approved by the club’s management. “It seems to me that there is a single commotion in the club for different interests,” the ex-president of the club is sure.

“Somehow I feel sorry for him”

Following the resignations of Soleimani and Bektashi, President Freddy Britt appears to be left alone and is currently the sole board member of FC St. Margrethen. Schnetzer explains: “Britt has been in charge for about 15 years, he does a lot for the club.” And the publisher adds: “He is not a leader. I kind of feel sorry for him. He seems depressed.”

Illegal players, financial turmoil and a wave of resignations

In recent years, the St. Margrethen football club has often found itself in the spotlight. But not because of outstanding sporting achievements, but rather due to activities away from the football field. In 2016, for example, Rheintaler allowed legionnaires to play illegally for the club, and later three officials were convicted.

Then it continued in the same scandalous manner: in November last year, the association was forced to return to the federal government the Corona relief money it received at the beginning of the pandemic. Just one month later, the entire core team decided to collectively retire. As a result, a not very competitive team was created from scratch.

The third division is waiting

Like Soleimani, Britt was not available for comment on Wednesday. According to rheintal24, there are currently rumors that six players have already stated that they no longer want to play for the club under the circumstances.

As a result, again, it is not clear how FC St. Margrethen’s first team will last. Only the transition from the second regional division to the third was recorded. With 13 points behind penultimate place and more than 100 goals conceded, this is at least without discussion.