Oliver Kahn: How the Bayern bosses dropped him – a chronicle

There are said to be clubs that would build a memorial for their boardroom if they became German champions. At FC Bayern, however, the clocks tick a little differently. 22 minutes after it was clear last Saturday that the championship trophy would also go to Munich this year and thus for the eleventh time in a row, it became public that in addition to sports director Hasan Salihamidžić, board boss Oliver Kahn also had to go.

Kahn’s failure is the story of a gradual dismantling that, in retrospect, one can have doubts as to whether the club bosses ever had any faith in him.

Oliver Kahn fired at FC Bayern – from the “perfect solution” to “catastrophically bad mood”

There wasn’t much uproar in 2019 when it was announced that Oliver Kahn would become the new CEO of FC Bayern. It all seemed logical, understandable: Kahn was to run alongside his predecessor Rummennigge for two years, establish networks, be incorporated. While some derided him as “Karl-Heinz’ intern”, club patriarch Uli Hoeneß explained: “We are convinced that in Oliver Kahn we have found the perfect solution for the position of CEO of FC Bayern München AG.”

Together with Salihamidžić and the new chairman of the board, Herbert Hainer, Kahn was to be the club’s new strong leader. Rummenigge emphasized in 2020 that “Titan” had “great know-how” and that Salihamidžić had also “developed very well.”

When Rummenigge finally handed over his duties to Kahn in 2021 and the new management trio started their first “own” season, Hainer was also bubbling with praise and anticipation. Together with the new coach Julian Nagelsmann, a “new chapter” begins. And the Chairman of the Supervisory Board also had only warm words for Kahn in June 2021: “Oliver Kahn is the right person to succeed Karl-Heinz. He has the absolute FC Bayern gene in him, has shaped the club as a player, himself developed as a personality after his career,” he explained on the club’s website.

A lot of praise for Oliver Kahn – until the first setbacks

There was much to suggest that FC Bayern would actually manage to compensate for the departures of Hoeneß and Rummenigge. Six months later, the latter emphasized again that Kahn and Salihamidžić’s decision to bring in Julian Nagelsmann was “right on the money”. Bayern were doing well in the league and had even set a new first-half Bundesliga record with 56 goals in 17 games.

But the image of the ideal world on Säbener Straße began to crack. Again and again, Bayern played below their potential and showed inexplicable fluctuations in performance. “Not Bayern-like” became a dictum. The first low blow for Kahn and his team was the surprising end of the DFB Cup against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The foals sent the completely desolate Munich team home 5-0 in October 2021. Almost half a year later, the defeat that hurt Bayern even more: against Villareal they missed the Champions League semifinals that they believed to be safe.

Even more than the poor sporting performances, the management bodies apparently disliked the public image of Kahn and Salihamidžić. The “Attack Department”, which used to be Hoeneß’s speciality, was canceled when things didn’t go well. Kahn often held back. Kahn also moderated internal quarrels such as the vaccination discussion about Joshua Kimmich by sitting out rather than by making clear announcements.

With the dismissal of Nagelsmann, Kahn lost his protective shield

At the end of his first season as CEO, “only” was the German championship for him. The FCB strengthened. Celebrated a “king transfer” with Sadio Mané. But the fluctuating performances remained. In the Champions League group stage, Bayern won every game they played. There were always total failures in the Bundesliga. Kahn repeatedly held the team accountable and passed the responsibility on to his coach. The players would have to show that they are Bayern Munich, otherwise the performances would eventually fall back on Nagelsmann.

At the latest when Nagelsmann was dismissed, Kahn lost his protective shield, which kept criticism away from his person. But even with this decision he got support, including from Hoeneß. He blamed the trainer for the sporting misery, which was not yet at the time. Nagelsmann should not have gone on a skiing holiday after the defeat against Bayer Leverkusen, he explained.

Instead, news of the coach’s sacking leaked out before the 35-year-old even found out about it. And Hoeneß also moderated this posse. For him, Tuchel is the “ideal solution”. No trace of criticism of Kahn or Salihamidžić.

Only when the team under Tuchel not only gambled away the DFB Cup and the Champions League, but also the interim lead in the table, did things get uncomfortable for Kahn. Hoeneß turned up at the training ground himself, had a lengthy conversation with Tuchel and thus fueled the discussion as to whether he wanted to take on more responsibility himself.

Hoeneß: Kahn as CEO was a mistake

Although FC Bayern got past BVB in the last minute in one of the most exciting Bundesliga finals, Kahn and Salihamidžić were no longer in office. The separation began to become more and more of a mud fight in the past few days. Hoeneß told Kicker that installing Oliver Kahn as CEO was a mistake. The separation talk was “not a pleasant one”, one did not part “amicably”.

Internally, Kahn’s advisors, with whom he surrounded himself, caused a “catastrophically bad mood”, Hoeneß continued. The family flair that the club’s patron had repeatedly invoked had apparently been lost. Such criticism can only be heard from the supervisory board, on which Hoeneß sits, now that Kahn has separated. “We would have acted like that with three titles, the decision had to be made like that.” No sign of backing.

Coach Tuchel made diplomatic statements about the layoffs. He hopes that “calm will return” soon. It is possible that Uli Hoeneß will be the one who takes care of that.

Sources:FC Bayern Munich, sports buzzer, Sky sports, ZDF