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English football fans 'clients', says Borussia Dortmund chief Hans-Joachim

they support, says Borussia Dortmund's chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Watzke expects Germany's experiment with Monday night fixtures to be scrapped following fan protests.

English fans have complained about the timing of some games, but are at the mercy of the TV rights holders.

"The Germans don't want to have the circumstances like in English football," Watzke told BBC Sport.

Watzke said 30,000 of his club's fans snubbed Monday's game against Augsburg, even though they had paid for their tickets.

This week's fixture was the second to be played on a Monday as part of the new TV deal that runs to 2021.

Watzke estimates 80% of fans in Germany are against Monday games.

He said: "The TV contract is not done again until 2021. Maybe something happens before then but 80% of the football fans in Germany don't want it and you can't do anything against 80%. No chance."

The Bundesliga sold its domestic TV rights from 2017 to 2021 to Sky Deutschland and Eurosport for £4.1bn.

For the first time, it made available the potential for five Monday

matches, commonplace in England since the Premier League was launched but never trialle before in Germany.

At the first, on 19 February, Frankfurt supporters threw hundreds of tennis balls on to the pitch, delaying the start to both halves of their game against RB Leipzig.

Watzke observed the vehemence of the protests at the Westfalenstadion at close hand and was not surprised.

He said: "In English football, the fans accept, mostly, that they are more clients than members or pieces of the club.

"We have 154,000 members. Everyone wants to be a part of the club, not a client of the club. That is a big difference. That is the special spirit in