“Their fans are talking in apocalyptic terms,” says journalist Felix Tamsut, who writes about football fan culture for Der Speigel and others.
“You have crisis clubs in Germany, clubs going bankrupt, but I don’t think I’ve seen a club as big as Schalke talk in a way like their fans do. It’s shocking to see from a German football perspective.
“It is a huge club – about 160,000 members. That’s more than Real Madrid, more than a lot of big clubs in Europe. Schalke is the most extreme case of a club trying to live beyond its means.
“Having lots of fans doesn’t mean you have the money, but they spent like they did, thinking things would work out.”
In 2016 Schalke signed teenage Swiss striker Breel Embolo for a reported 25m euros (£21.4m). The deal was revealed to Schalke’s fans via a video message that suggested the club had seen off competition from Barcelona, Manchester United and Arsenal.
But three years later, after 10 goals in in 48 Bundesliga games, Embolo was sold to Borussia Monchengladbach for half the amount Schalke had paid.
Nabil Bentaleb, signed from Tottenham in 2017 for 19m euros (£16m), departed for free at the end of his contract.
Embolo and Bentaleb are just two examples of poor recruitment in recent years.
And not only have Schalke bought badly, but they have also sold poorly.
Key players such as Leon Goretzka, and academy prospects Sead Kolasinac, Max Meyer and Joel Matip, who should have represented good avenues for profit, left on free transfers.
A stretched balance sheet came under further strain as the Covid-19 pandemic choked off the income from gate receipts and dented the value of the Bundesliga’s television deal., external
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 brought an abrupt end to the relationship with Gazprom – the energy giant majority owned by the Russian state and the club’s main sponsor.
“Decisions have been made in the past that were totally wrong and have cost a lot of money,” Anja Wortmann, Schalke Supporters Club board member, tells BBC Sport. “The team they put together didn’t fit and didn’t play well. There was a ‘hire and fire’ culture for new coaches.”
Current manager Karel Geraerts, hired in October, is the 11th permanent Schalke boss in 10 years.
The swift series of pay-offs, hefty transfer fees, punishing interest rates on borrowed money and world events have taken their toll.
Schalke’s debts rose to 217m euros in 2021 and, while they have since reduced that figure, they are sorely missing the income associated with the top flight.
