"Basic food in liquid form?": When a TV legend harshly attacked Schalke manager Assauer

Twenty years ago, the TV audience held its breath on a Sunday morning. Had the "Doppelpass" host really just said that live on German television? Jörg Wontorra's below-the-belt verbal blow to Rudi Assauer made TV history in September 2005.

"I like to have a beer now and then, but I don't have a drinking problem." Schalke manager Rudi Assauer was furious. Not only had his club gotten off to a classic bad start in the Champions League against Eindhoven, but he subsequently got into trouble with his supervisory board because, immediately after the defeat, he had sharply criticized not only the team but also coach Ralf Rangnick ("That was a disaster, a disgrace. We'll talk about that. Including the coach!").

No, now he also had to counter a harsh attack from "Doppelpass" presenter Jörg Wontorra – delivered live during the so-called TV Frühschoppen on Sunday morning. Rudi Assauer was certainly not to be envied in September 20 years ago.

It all began with a rather mediocre start in the league and the subsequent unfortunate start in the Champions League. As the previous season's runners-up, Schalke had previously built up expectations that threatened to collapse like a house of cards after just a few weeks. Assauer, the old fox, clearly already suspected that things were heading in the wrong direction – but the balance of power within the club had shifted in the meantime.

"... a very small problem"

And the long-time Schalke manager noticed this not only through the direct backlash within the club ("Rudi is emotional – okay. But he's doing himself and us no favors by raging and starting to doubt the coach," said supervisory board member Clemens Tönnies), but above all through the verbal punch below the belt from TV legend Jörg Wontorra. After the Schalke officials' cues, Wontorra had rather shamelessly asked in the "Doppelpass" round: "If you listen to the language, the 'Bild' newspaper would use a very ambiguous headline: 'Assauer fully involved.' That's perhaps also a very small problem that should be discussed. To what extent should a manager ensure that his staple food isn't liquid all day long?"

A lapse that made television history. Because now it was the TV presenter himself who was suddenly in the spotlight – and even had to fear for his job, as Wontorra recently explained in an interview with the "Lübecker Nachrichten": "I was incredibly lucky in that regard." His station issued a statement at the time that left no room for doubt. DSF Managing Director Thomas Deissenberger said: "These low-level comments toward Rudi Assauer were Jörg Wontorra's own unilateral action. Without any consultation with the editorial team. DSF cannot and will not accept such behavior. Jörg Wontorra will face disciplinary consequences."

But these ultimately did not lead to Wontorra's exclusion from the show, because Assauer reacted calmly and, together with the TV presenter, resolved all disagreements "fairly and in a fair and sporting manner" (Wontorra): "He called me personally twice, Sunday evening and Monday morning, and told me he was terribly sorry. It was a blackout. I accepted the apology with the note that he would rectify it in the next show. If I hadn't accepted his apology, it would have cost him his head."

Jörg Wontorra may have been somewhat influenced by the extremely popular beer advertisement that Assauer and his then partner Simone Thomalla had staged in several spots since 2003 under the motto "Just look, don't touch."

"Will you still be sitting here then?"

And there had already been some teasing from the Schalke manager toward the TV presenter. In a 2002 broadcast, Assauer, when asked whether he would live to see Schalke win the championship as the oldest member of the club, replied: "Mr. Wontorra, I don't know if you've already looked in the mirror this morning? First of all, you're twenty years younger than me and you look forty years older than me. And indeed, I will live to see Schalke 04 win the championship in the next few years. Let me ask, will you still be sitting in this chair then?"

While Schalke weren't able to celebrate a German championship, in retrospect, Assauer's criticism of the coach early in the season was ultimately justified. Rangnick was forced to leave before the winter break.

But the differences within the club itself ran deeper. Rudi Assauer resigned as manager in May 2006 after the supervisory board unanimously withdrew its confidence in him. And so, in retrospect, Jörg Wontorra's verbal blow was just one of many small blows on the way to the final demise of long-time and legendary manager Rudi Assauer at Schalke.