There are good reasons why the managers in Munich in March 2023 believed that this could be a common story: FC Bayern and Thomas Tuchel, the German world club and the German world coach. But since this Wednesday morning, since it has now become clear that this will no longer be the shared story that it should have been, one has to ask oneself: Why? Because of the coach? Because of the players? Or perhaps because of the managers who sent these players and this coach into the season together in this constellation?
At the end of this collaboration, which did not become an era, it is difficult to determine whether a player problem has become a coach problem in the eleven months – or a coach problem has become a player problem. But last week at the latest, when the team lost in Leverkusen, Rome and Bochum, it became clear that these players and this coach were very unlikely to find a common solution.
It is therefore logical that FC Bayern Munich announced on Wednesday morning that it would terminate Thomas Tuchel’s contract early. It is consistent that the manager Max Eberl, who is to be appointed as the new sports director at the club’s supervisory board meeting next Monday and will then have the authority to direct policy in sport, does not have to deal with this problem and will choose the next player-coach. Constellation can choose their own solution.
It is logical that they will press the reset button again on Säbener Strasse in Munich (and on Lake Tegernsee, where Uli Hoeneß lives) and will now try once again to find the answer to the big question: What kind of football club is what FC Bayern Munich actually wants to be in the modern world of football?
But there is one thing that is not consistent about this decision: that Bayern will stop working with Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season – and not immediately.
In the statement that the club published on Wednesday, CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen is quoted as saying: “Until then, every single person in the club is expressly required to do so to achieve the maximum possible in the Champions League and the Bundesliga. I also explicitly hold the team responsible. Especially in the Champions League, we are convinced that after the 0-1 defeat in the first leg at Lazio Rome, we will advance to the quarter-finals in the second leg in our fully occupied Allianz Arena with our fans behind us.”
Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 25 Daniel Theweleit, Bochum Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 A comment from Christopher Meltzer Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 8 Christopher Meltzer, Rome Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 14
It is understandable that the CEO sees the blame not only on the coach, but also on the players. And perhaps the announcement of the decision will actually change something in the player-coach relationship. Maybe it will release an energy that you can already see on Saturday (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) in the league game against RB Leipzig and on March 5th (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and on Prime Video). will be able to see in the Champions League game against Lazio Rome.
But anyone who argues like that ignores the fact that with their actions this Wednesday, FC Bayern Munich has deprived their coach of what a coach must have if he is to be successful: authority.
