Julian Nagelsmann’s exit from FC Bayern Munich is not even official yet. Even the press conference on the change of coach at the successful club from Munich has not even been scheduled. Nevertheless, as far as one can judge from the outside, one can already guess at possible reasons for the replacement of the Bayern coach.
In the 2023 calendar year, FC Bayern can look back on five wins, three draws and two defeats. What the vast majority of Bundesliga clubs should be quite satisfied with does not meet the requirements of FC Bayern Munich. Especially since Borussia Dortmund has clinched nine wins and one draw in the Bundesliga since the turn of the year and has replaced Bayern at the top of the table. The last game before the current international break was lost 1:2 against Bayer Leverkusen.
Last season was disappointing for Bayern. They won the championship with Nagelsmann, who was new at the time, but were eliminated in the second round of the DFB Cup. in the Champions League, the Spanish middle-class team FC Villarreal sealed Bayern’s end in the quarter-finals. Bayern are still represented in all competitions, but especially in the Champions League, Manchester City are waiting in the quarter-finals – a completely different caliber than Villareal. And progressing against SC Freiburg in the DFB Cup is not a sure-fire success either.
After the defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, sports director Hasan Salihamidzic had already expressed his displeasure: “That’s not what Bayern means.” He listed a whole list of shortcomings and even asked the question of mentality. “That wasn’t what Bayern Munich means,” said Salihamidzic: “We missed everything. We let ourselves be overwhelmed by a team that was still playing on Thursday.” When asked if he felt anger or what the prevailing emotion was, he replied, “I don’t know what those feelings are called.”
Salihamidzic also indirectly criticized how Nagelsmann had hired the team: “I’ve rarely experienced so little drive, so little mentality, so little duel leadership, so little assertiveness,” he said: “This team is so good when they have one from the start mentality and she’s 100 percent. And she’s not that good when she’s playing like she is today. When she’s lazy and thinks that she can do everything with the quality of play. She just can’t do that.” Now this displeasure should have contributed to Nagelsmann losing his post.
Bayern goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer in particular was so appalled by the departure of his long-time coach and friend Toni Tapalovic that he was critical of his club in an interview. “It was a blow for me when I was already on the ground. I felt like my heart was being ripped out, that was the craziest thing I’ve experienced in my career. And I’ve really experienced a lot,” said Neuer in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. According to “TZ”, Nagelsmann said about the reasons for Tapalovic’s expulsion: “All those responsible in the club have made a decision based on everyday things that have happened in the past. (…) The togetherness never came about as it did We those responsible imagine that. Sports director Hasan Salihamidzic also explained: “Particular differences about the way we work together have now led to us going our separate ways”. Tapalovic return, that would be a pretty clear sign.
During his time as Bayern coach, Julian Nagelsmann began a relationship with the “Bild” journalist Lena Wurzenberger, who was responsible for FC Bayern at the time. The “Bild” was the first newspaper to report this, not without pointing out that the journalist was “released from reporting on FC Bayern” on the same day. Nagelsmann wants to have informed all those responsible about the relationship in good time. Whether that’s true or not is something you only know on Säbener Strasse. The liaison is always unprofessional – and should have damaged Nagelsmann’s reputation in the Bayern boardroom.
Either way, the Julian Nagelsmann chapter at FC Bayern Munich is probably over once and for all. It will be exciting to see and hear who from the Bayern board will speak up and how. So far, one thing is certain: FC Hollywood is back.
