Mistakes made by the Bayern bosses
Bayern lose two titles in two weeks: are Kahn and Salihamidžić going for it now?
Hasan Salihamidžić (left) and Oliver Kahn are visibly pissed off in the stands during FC Bayern Munich’s Champions League second leg against Manchester City. Front: club boss Herbert Hainer.
© Bernd Feil / Imago Images
The crisis at FC Bayern Munich has worsened significantly with the end of the Champions League. Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidžić have long since felt headwinds – and not without good reason.
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, sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić and CEO Oliver Kahn, after the final whistle was enough. Satisfaction is a foreign word on Säbener Straße these days.
The change to Thomas Tuchel did not bring anything
After losing 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 certainly 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 Salihamidžić 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 from 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.” That doesn’t apply to Salihamidžić, 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.
Are Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidžić wobbling?
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 Salihamidžić) 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 Salihamidžić, because the management duo makes many of their decisions in close cooperation:
- transfer policy: Clearer David Alaba let the bosses go, as did striker Robert Lewandowski – there were no worthy successors, despite transfer spending of well over 100 million euros. Above all, the offensive department of the record champions has been idle since then. Bayern did not succeed in signing a real cracker.
- communication: There is a huge lack of public image at Bayern. Kahn and Salihamidžić have been taking refuge in generalities for weeks (“Concentration on what we can still achieve”, “We work for the club and try to do the best”). Above all, Salihamidžić’s insecurity in dealing with the public can be noticed again and again, while Kahn sees himself as reflected, only to then repeatedly react impulsively. Significant: after the disappointing Bundesliga 1-1 draw against TSG Hoffenheim at the weekend, both went on to swap teams.
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- change of coach: Ex-coach Julian Nagelsmann cost a record fee in 2021 – and was fired and replaced by Thomas Tuchel. This was followed by elimination in two competitions and at best a consistent performance in the Bundesliga. The promises made by Kahn and Hasan Salihamidžić that the new coach would improve their performance in the short term and achieve the goals they had set themselves could not be kept. In addition to sporting questions, there were also questions of style related to the change of coach.
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 Tapalović 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 Salihamidžić managed to take the lead and bring the focus back to the sporting side.
FC Bayern Munich fans protest
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 be missed – not values of the club! Question management policy,” was emblazoned on Wednesday evening on a fan poster that couldn’t be overlooked in the south stand of the Munich stadium.
Kahn announced after the game that, given the season’s 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.