The timing of trainer Julian Nagelsmann’s dismissal may come as a surprise. Or not, as a look at FC Bayern’s past reveals.
They all had to vacate their coaching chair at Bayern: Julian Nagelsmann, Louis van Gaal, Jürgen Klinsmann (from left).
imago images (3)
There are good, objective reasons for FC Bayern to have made the cut in the coaching position now of all times. The entire sporting development since the beginning of 2022, for example, or the loss of the championship lead along with the fact that they have scored ten points fewer than Borussia Dortmund since January. The general rule is: If the sporting goals are in danger and/or a Bayern coach has lost the locker room, then things will get tight.
April 1996, Bayern have reached the final of the UEFA Cup with a win in the second leg at FC Barcelona, the first international title in 20 years beckons. But a home defeat against Hansa Rostock on April 27th cost Otto Rehhagel his job. With a lot of fanfare, the record champions had iced away the eternal opponent from arch-rival Werder Bremen, but soon the problems between the team and the coach piled up, “King Otto” does not suit FC Bayern.
Because Borussia Dortmund is at the top of the Bundesliga, Rehhagel has to go after less than a season, and President Franz Beckenbauer takes over. With him, the team won the UEFA Cup against Girondins Bordeaux, and Dortmund became champions. And deer hail? He took his revenge two years later by sensationally snatching the bowl away from Bayern with promoted Kaiserslautern.
Magath’s difficult third season – Klinsmann goes without a title
At the beginning of 2007, Felix Magath was able to call himself a double double winner with FC Bayern, and in 2005 and 2006 he won all national titles. However, in his third season things are not going well, participation in the next Champions League season is in danger, a 0-0 draw against VfL Bochum on February 1, 2007 costs Magath his job. With Ottmar Hitzfeld, an old acquaintance returns and immediately loses 0:3 at 1. FC Nürnberg. The Munich team missed the Champions League for the last time to this day, a year later Hitzfeld left – as a double winner.
Like Rehhagel, Jürgen Klinsmann does not manage a whole season. He is the last coach to date who came at the start of the season and has to leave without a title. Manager Uli Hoeneß had already contacted Jürgen Klopp, then still in Mainz, for the Hitzfeld successor and promised negotiations before CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge came around the corner with the Klinsmann idea. Not a good one, as we now know. At FC Barcelona it is already 0: 4 at halftime in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, at the later champions in Wolfsburg Klinsmann’s team is humiliated with 1: 5, the end is like Rehhagel on April 27th. Jupp Heynckes returns from retirement for the first time and saves qualifying for Europe’s premier class with four wins from the last five games.
Van Gaal builds strength and falls – Ancelotti’s team a state within a state
Heyncke’s interim solution is followed by Louis van Gaal, who implements Bayern’s structure and the 4-2-3-1, the beginning of a new era for the record champions. In the first season only Inter Milan prevented the first treble in the club’s history in the Champions League final, in the second the relationship between the idiosyncratic coach and the bosses became increasingly cold. Stupid for van Gaal that things are not going well in terms of sport. He puts home-grown Thomas Kraft in goal, while the bosses have long signed a certain Manuel Neuer. endless conflicts. On April 9, 2011, Kraft made a blunder in Nuremberg. After the 1-1 draw, the decision was made halfway down the A9 to Munich to part with the Dutchman. Like Heynckes two years earlier, assistant Andries Jonker led the team into the Champions League with four wins from five games. Klopp won the championship with Dortmund.
After the treble in 2013 under Heynckes and three years with Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti is to usher in a new era of success in 2016, who has proven to have worked successfully all over the world. The fallacy: After the strict, sometimes annoying Guardiola, bon vivant Ancelotti should release new energy with his looseness. In the first year, Ancelotti became German champion, but failed in the DFB Cup at home to Dortmund and in Europe to Real Madrid. His Italian coaching team is a state within a state, but the Munich team is going into a second season with him. But only until September 27, 2017. In the Champions League game at Paris St. Germain, Ancelotti voluntarily renounced Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng and lost 3-0. When the Munich team landed at home the next day, the Italian’s dismissal was sealed. Jupp Heynckes takes over the Bavarians for the fourth and last time and becomes the German champion.
Kovac does not survive the second fall crisis – Flick makes history
However, because Hoeneß, now President, has been hoping for another season with Heynckes for too long and at that time still wanted to prevent Thomas Tuchel (by the way, he changed his mind a long time ago, today he thinks positively about him), Niko Kovac comes from Frankfurt in 2018 – with the recommendation of the DFB Cup victory against Heynckes-Bayern. Despite the crisis, Kovac survived the first autumn, in the second half of the season the Munich team pulled themselves together for an energetic performance, overtook a weakening Dortmund team despite being nine points behind and won the championship and the cup.
Despite the double, insiders are already clear at this point that Kovac will not be good for much longer. His relationship with large parts of the team is disturbed, Bayern football is not good, the next autumn crisis will come in 2019 with an announcement. A 1: 5 at Eintracht Frankfurt is the end, on November 3rd assistant Hansi Flick takes over and writes history in the middle of the corona pandemic: All six possible titles within one year are a record and only FC Barcelona 2009 has managed it in Europe.
When Flick got tired of his job, Nagelsmann took over in 2021. And now has to go with a German championship on his resume. Both sides had promised each other more. Tuchel takes over with a five-year delay. How will this story end?
