Opinion
Coach search as a farce
Mia san mad! Tuchel’s cancellation is FC Bayern’s next declaration of bankruptcy
Say hello when you say goodbye: Thomas Tuchel is leaving after 15 months, maybe even with a smile. After all, other clubs also have nice positions.
© Lukas Barth / DPA
FC Bayern and Thomas Tuchel have not reached an agreement on continued employment; the agreed separation remains. And now? If the record champions emerge irreparably damaged from their search for a coach.
Now there is at least clarity on this question: Thomas Tuchel will not remain coach of FC Bayern. The coach announced at the press conference before the last game of the season against TSG Hoffenheim that the negotiations had broken down.
This means that Bayern’s next attempt to find a new coach failed. The record champions’ coaching trauma reaches unprecedented levels of tragedy, one would almost want to laugh if it weren’t so sad. The search, which has been going on for weeks, could result in massive consequential damage for the club.
It looked like a happy ending with Thomas Tuchel
At first it looked like an extraordinary happy ending in the relationship between Tuchel and Bayern. Both parties had originally agreed to part ways in February; the team was knocked out early in the cup, against Saarbrücken, mind you, and suffered extreme fluctuations in form in the Bundesliga. They were left behind early on by the new champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen. There were apparently also atmospheric disturbances between the club management and coach, with the result that Bayern pulled the ripcord. A farewell in installments. They just didn’t fire Tuchel immediately because a certain Julian Nagelsmann had also had to leave before the end of the season the previous year, which later turned out to be a mistake.
National coach Nagelsmann
These players are in the provisional European Championship squad
Then there was a hail of cancellations from coaches (Alonso, Nagelsmann, Rangnick, Glasner), but at the same time the team shone in the Champions League and reached the semi-finals against Real Madrid. Coach and team presented themselves as a harmonious unit including a good-mood cabin photo. The team, it was suddenly said, wanted to keep Tuchel. So the idea germinated on both sides: Why not try it together again?
Now we know: The dialogue has failed and Bayern’s coaching search is finally a farce. One can only speculate about the reasons at this point. It is said that Tuchel has demanded a new contract. In his opinion, with the old one, which was only dated until 2025, he would have run the risk of being labeled as an interim coach. There is said to have been resistance to the solution on the supervisory board. It stands to reason that the coach therefore refused.
The consequences for FC Bayern could be disastrous
The consequences for Bayern cannot yet be foreseen. The unsuccessful search for a coach has massively damaged the new sports director Max Eberl, who has only been in office for less than six months. The same applies to sports director Christoph Freund. Eberl was supposed to be the new strong man at Bayern, but now he seems weak when it comes to the most important personnel. The role of the supervisory board members Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge will also have to be questioned. Eberl and Freund favored the Tuchel solution.
The new coach, whoever he may be, is also damaged. The ominous newcomer will go into the season with the huge burden of having been only the sixth (!) choice. Conversely, this means: With every rejection, it becomes more difficult for the club to find a new trainer because not every coach accepts such an exposed job under such conditions.
Could the farce be improved further? In any case, it is not known that a club has ever started a new season without a coach.