Is Śląsk Wrocław really for sale? The city has started a famous game
The specific resolution was adopted during Friday's (25.04) session of the Wrocław City Council. Opposition councillors also voted for it, but they noticed that preparing such a document was unnecessary, because in fact it is an empty gesture. The slogan "Silesia for sale" has been in force for many years and it is difficult to find local government officials in Wrocław who would disagree with it. And it is no wonder, because this is the common will of the inhabitants of Wrocław. Nobody wants public funds in such huge amounts to be spent on maintaining what is essentially a commercial enterprise. You can say that the city council takes care of the health and physical activity of children and young people in this way, that through the professional football team it promotes important local programmes and initiatives, but all such noble arguments lose to the fact that Silesia needs at least PLN 20 million from the city annually and receives this money in various forms - planned business cooperation, long-term loans and increasing the share capital of the company.
This has to end eventually, but since Zygmunt Solorz withdrew from Śląsk in 2013, the city has been looking for a new investor. There were moments when it seemed that it had achieved its goal (we remember the transaction involving businessmen who created the Wrocław Sports Consortium), but also when it risked a spectacular fall. This was threatened by the election of Grzegorz Ślak as the owner of the majority stake, which was a complete misunderstanding; fortunately, the club withdrew from this deal in time.
At that time, Rafał Dutkiewicz ruled the city and broke his teeth trying to privatize Silesia. His successor also has nothing to brag about, because so far the results of his actions are the same as the results of organizing a referendum by his opponents on the dismissal of Sutryk from the office of the mayor of Wrocław. For now, there will be no vote, because it was not possible to collect the required number of signatures under the citizens' motion, but the initiators do not intend to give up. Sutryk is similarly stubborn - he insisted on selling Silesia and (probably) is not giving up either.
The president has been struggling with an image crisis for a long time, and he is facing prosecutorial charges. If he managed to sell Śląsk – but in a way that would credibly guarantee its development – he would probably gain a lot in the eyes of the residents, because at least in this area there would be no impression that the city is wasting public money. However, he has already had enough opportunities to see how big a challenge he is facing. It is easy to talk about the planned sale of the club, but it is incomparably harder to carry it out.
Just last year, Śląsk was valued at around PLN 55 million, which was a drastic increase compared to the previous valuation of PLN 8 million. The sudden change scared away potential investors, but few people in the city hall were concerned about it, because Śląsk was great for a while – it won the Polish vice-championship, was preparing for the European cups and of course it was assumed that it had permanently installed itself in the national top. Not even a year had passed and Śląsk had fallen from heaven to hell in terms of sports, the concept of building a solid team fell apart, all the key people responsible for this process and preparing for long-term, consistent work were quickly replaced – the president, the sports director, the coach. After the defeat in Częstochowa (0:3), the chances of staying in the PKO BP Ekstraklasa still exist, but relegation should also be taken into account deadly seriously; the hope for a positive scenario is certainly smaller than it was two weeks ago.
It is no coincidence that the City Office will wait for offers from potential investors until May 26, because then the sporting fate of Śląsk will be known. Although the value of the club's shares has already been determined, it was decided to keep it secret. Before the bidders can familiarize themselves with it, they will sign a confidentiality clause. All this is done in order to ensure the proper course of the tender, so that it is accompanied by as few unhealthy emotions as possible. Of course, the aforementioned amount will see the light of day anyway as a "leak to the media" (it is already said that the valuation has fallen to a level below PLN 10 million), but apparently appearances also count.
This also applies to the whole idea of selling Śląsk, because it so strangely happens that the city strongly reminds us of its intentions and even starts to do something in this direction just when Śląsk is staring the specter of relegation in the face. This was the case two years ago, when WKS was fighting for survival until the last league round, and it is the same now.
przegladsportowy
