We Win - They Lose

Klaus Kirchhoff

Description

Sigi Strammsack was in sheer heaven being given this assignment as he approached his seventieth birthday. He had married Mariandl Meinhofer a year earlier and they remained in Birkenried from which Strammsack developed his program to further youth soccer development in Germany. The men in charge of the DFB did not like it and made several attempts to persuade Fischer and Strammsack to bring this program under the DFB umbrella. But this did not happen and since the invitations to the Fischer Foundation training facilities in Birkenried were not mandatory to attend, it was perfectly legitimate and it was Strammsack’s well-known reputation that brought young talented players to their program.

Sujets

• American Dad
• Klaus
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 31 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781728378893
• Langue: English

Extrait

WE WIN - THEY LOSE
When Rich Men Gamble
Klaus Kirchhoff


AuthorHouse™
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Bloomington, IN 47403
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© 2023 Klaus Kirchhoff. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 01/30/2023
 
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7890-9 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7888-6 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7889-3 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023901738
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
About The Author

Dedicated to my wife
Brigitte in loving memory
1

“G ood morning, moron. What in the world did you do last night?” Karsten Fischer, a German industrialist in his late forties was staring at and talking to his image in the bathroom mirror of his suite in the Sofitel Hotel in Warsaw, Poland. He was a multi-billionaire, one of the most successful businessmen in Europe owning several major companies in a vast variety of industries. He continued, “At this moment, I can only think of one thing of which I am absolutely certain, I am looking at the biggest idiot I ever met in my life. Your only excuse is that you were drunk and you should know better than to make deals when you are in that condition. All I can say as I look at you, I am totally pissed off.”
He was genuinely mad at himself about his action the night before, it was the reason for his bad mood. Even though he had only gotten to bed at two a.m., he woke up at six-thirty this morning because he had been an early riser all his adult life. The reason he was in Warsaw was attending with friends the European Championship semi-final soccer match between Germany and Italy the evening before which Italy had won by a score of 2:1. After the game, he had been invited to an exclusive international party at the hotel and during those three hours, he had consumed a few glasses of wine too many. He had been deeply disappointed since Germany had been considered the favorite to win the title and therefore, of course, this game. It so happened at the party that he had overheard the Italian automobile industrialist Frederico Ferragamo brag about the victory. Ferragamo claimed that Germany could never win games against Italy when it counted and he referred to the many times where this had actually happened before.
This upset Karsten Fischer and he told Ferragamo to stop bragging; after all this was just a soccer match. He had added, the German Bundesliga was overall in terms of team strengths more than even if not clearly stronger than the teams in the top league in Italy. Ferragamo, who owned the team of Juventus Turin, the current Italian soccer champion did not like Fischer’s rebuttal comments but continued in his arrogant way and declared that he would bet that no German soccer team would ever win the European Champions League title again. Fischer now got truly angry and he challenged Ferragamo how much he would be willing to bet on that. Ferragamo answered, “Eight hundred million euros!”
Karsten Fischer responded, “Great, I will take that bet.” And within minutes they had signed a piece of paper to make it official. It was witnessed by several other guests at the party, among them the prominent German soccer legend Hans Steinhauser. He was a close friend of Karsten Fischer and he had even co-signed the paper as witness of this agreement. As best as Fischer remembered, Steinhauser had then somebody else make copies of the contract between the two billionaires and passed them on to both of them.
Realizing all this at this very moment, Fischer checked the suit he had been wearing the previous evening and found a copy of this so called ‘contract’. He saw his own signature and it was somewhat different because he had been intoxicated and some letters had been distorted. This was not the way his signature looked at normal times. He checked the time and decided to call Hans Steinhauser since they were staying at the same hotel. But instead of doing so right away, he would wait for an hour.
After shaving, taking a long shower and getting dressed, he drank some coffee in his room and now began to think about what he should do next. There were several options and he realized that damage control was an absolute priority. He had to try and make sure that the story would not be made public right away. But how could he do that knowing full well that Frederico Ferragamo owned several Italian newspapers and would most likely be inclined to brag about this bet because he was convinced he would win. Fischer also felt he needed a few days to consider his options before he would make a final decision with respect to this bet.
He called his pilot Georg Severin and instructed him to get his plane, a Gulfstream 550, ready for take-off as soon as possible. Severin told Fischer he could do that in about two hours and would rush to the airport to be ready for take-off no later than nine-thirty or ten o’clock. Fischer then called the hotel switchboard and asked to be connected with Hans Steinhauser. It took less than a minute before they talked and Steinhauser began, “Karsten, I apologize for letting you sign that piece of paper with Ferragamo. I knew you were more than slightly intoxicated and hot under the collar about Ferragamo’s bragging and I should have tried everything to keep you from agreeing to this ridiculous bet.”
“Hans, you do not have to apologize. I know I had way too much to drink but still take full responsibility for what happened. The reason I am calling you is to ask you a favor. I need a few days to evaluate my options and check with my attorneys about the legality of this bet and the validity of the piece of paper we signed. Is there a chance you could help me with this by contacting Ferragamo and telling him that you believe the bet is illegal and that I am considering legal action against him if he should go public with it?”
Hans Steinhauser responded, “I will be happy to do that. But I have to find out where he is staying. Once I know that, I’ll call him and set up a meeting to explain this to him. I will tell him that my attorney has indicated to me that the three of us signed that piece of paper not legally binding and that it could not be enforced in a court of law since it carries the wrong date. I remember dating it yesterday while we did sign it this morning after midnight. I have your phone number and will call you as soon as I have done it. But let me ask you this, are you seriously considering accepting this bet and supporting a German soccer team that could win the European Champions League title in the next five years? You know there are only two or maybe three teams in the Bundesliga who could do so and Bayern Munich probably would have the best chance to make it.”
“To be honest, it’s one of my options and I am only asking for a few days time to evaluate them and then decide what I want to do. Believe me, I would like nothing more than to teach that Italian bragger a lesson that would cost him a lot of money. But I need about a week to decide that and it’s important for me right now that this does not become public knowledge. I would look like a coward if it would become news in the next few days in case I want to back out of this deal.”
“I understand. I will try and reach Ferragamo as soon as I can and will let you know what the result of my conversation with him is. Where will you be? Are you flying back to Munich right away?”
“Yes, in less than two hours and I will be in my office by noon time. But you have my cell phone number and you can reach me direct. Thanks, Hans, you are doing me a great favor if you can stop Ferragamo from going public with this for the time being. And, of course, you and I have not spoken this morning, okay?”
“That’s a given. I will just talk to him as a friend and warn him not to do something hastily. Servus Karsten, I will talk to you soon.”
“Thanks, Hans, I appreciate it, servus.”
It was nearly eight o’clock and Fischer decided to call his Executive Secretary, Stefanie Huber in Erding to let her know he would be back in the office by noon. It was a brief conversation and he asked her to set up a senior staff meeting for three o’clock in the afternoon. When he asked her who all was in the office, she told him everyone except Ryan Betz who was still in Holland and would not be back until Monday from what he had told her the day before.
“Steffi, that’s okay. I would like you to attend the meeting as well. And one more thing, if anybody calls and wants to talk to