The administrative infighting at Bundesliga club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is set to produce yet another bombshell. Kicker reports that the front office duo of managing director Dr. Markus Schütz and finance boss Frank Briel are set for the sack. At this point, it isn’t explicitly stated who has ordered this move. It can nevertheless easily be inferred that club patron Dietmar Hopp is once again interfering in matters he promised not to. 

Schütz and Briel were among those advocating for a stadium ban to be imposed on controversial agent Roger Wittmann; a Hopp confidant who has not-so-subtlety enriched himself via the professional representation of Hoffenheim footballers over the years. Schütz and Briel successfully secured a partial injection against Wittmann, banning the agent from the club’s training grounds but not the PreZero Arena.

The forthcoming sacking of the duo that fought to rid the front office of Hopp’s influence is about a flagrant a power play as it gets. There will still surely be other arguments proffered for the move. Austrian sporting director Andreas Schicker – who looks to be the primary beneficiary of the move – has been linked with a move to RB Salzburg in his native Austria. 

Salzburg seek a new sporting director following the departure of Rouven Schröder, who recently returned to Germany with his appointment at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Hoffenheim (and most certainly Hopp) wish to retain Schicker’s services by offering him a promotion. It shall prove most interesting to see how the controversial club handles this forthcoming shake-up from a public relations perspective.