Gall even received a reply, politely declining the request because Red Bull was not then involved in football projects. But he did not give up. He phoned Salzburg and ended up talking to Mateschitz’s assistant.\n\n“Stay on the line, we’ll keep an eye on it,” she told him.
Meanwhile Kölmel had smelled the roast: the costs of the Zentralstadion were threatening to run out of control. Acting for him, the nuclear physicist Dr Otto Schlörb once again approached Red Bull on behalf of FC Sachsen.\n\nThe club officials were touchy, insisting they had large, powerful fan scenes who had little in common with the supporters of Austrian drinks football. The Austrians had to rethink.
Instead of a traditional German big-city club, they looked for a club tied to a large East German city but more malleable.