For Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, the matter is clear. “Two couldn’t keep up the level: the pitch and the referee. Grade six from the first minute,” he said on Wednesday evening after his team’s defeat in the Champions League against Manchester City into the Dazn microphone. Otherwise? “I’m very satisfied.”
The new man on the sidelines of the record champion should have this view exclusively. A look into the faces of his superiors, Sport Director Hasan Salihamidži? and CEO Oliver Kahn, after the final whistle was enough. Satisfaction is a foreign word on Säbener Straße these days.
After dropping out of the DFB Cup and the Champions League, only the German championship is possible for FC Bayern this season – and even that is far from certain. Just a single title in a season? This is actually not even a minimum goal for the people of Munich who are used to success.
Thomas Tuchel on the Isar is against it after four weeks: The replacement of the coach by the Bayern bosses did not bring the desired success, on the contrary. The crisis at Bayern even worsened significantly after Nagelsmann-Aus.
Hasan Salihamidži? and Oliver Kahn know that too – and they know that in the search for those responsible for the misery, they too are increasingly coming into focus.
The morning after leaving the Champions League, tweets by Norwegian ex-Bundesliga professional Jan Aage Fjørtoft, who now earns his money as a TV expert and columnist, made the rounds. Even before the game, he whispered about “significant news that there will be in German football in the coming days” in order to become concrete on this Thursday morning. “I was told that there was an ‘ongoing process’ and that it was only ‘a matter of time’ before Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn was removed from office.” This does not apply to Salihamidži?, after all he is “a man from Uli Hoeneß”. And the ex-boss is one of the candidates who could take Oliver Kahn’s post, as can club president Herbert Hainer or ex-Bayern player Philipp Lahm.
How does Fjørtoft know all this? Not clear. But one thing is certain: the Norwegian’s theses are, so to speak, the starting signal for an extremely troubled time at the “Mia san mia” club. The calls for Kahn (and Salihamidži?) to be replaced are getting louder and the arguments for an early separation growing. Above all, there are three points that Oliver Kahn has to be accused of – and which basically also apply to Salihamidži?, because the management duo makes many of their decisions in close cooperation:
In addition, the Bavarians, in the old tradition, afford a number of side shows (from Serge Gnabry’s fashion week trip and the breakup with goalkeeping coach Toni Tapalovi? to the “mole affair” and an interview by Manuel Neuer to the cabin quarrel between Sadio Mané and Leroy Sané as well as the controversial Joshua Kimmich celebration against SC Freiburg). All of this caused unrest in the club and ultimately on the pitch. And neither Kahn nor Salihamidži? managed to take the lead and bring the focus back to the sporty side.
You could forgive them on Säbener Straße if they were at least successful. But the conclusion remains: In the end, titles count in football – and here the balance sheet for Bayern conditions under the aegis of Kahn is sobering. At the beginning of 2020, the former national keeper joined the board and was able to celebrate the treble in his first season. Since he took over as boss in 2021, however, only two mandatory championship titles have been added and this year it will be enough for the bowl at most – that is not enough for Bayern’s claims in the long run.
The headwind for the bosses is getting stronger. “Goals may not be missed – not the club’s values! Question management policy,” was emblazoned on a fan poster that couldn’t be overlooked on the south stand of the Munich stadium on Wednesday evening.
Kahn announced after the game that given the season record so far, “many, many questions” will be asked. It’s quite possible that club president Herbert Hainer already has the answers – and that there will soon be “significant news” from German football.
