It was no mistake on the part of the FC Bayern Munich supervisory board to make their decision to dismiss Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic independent of the title win. The way the dismissal was still unstylish and not worthy of FC Bayern. A comment.
There were good reasons why Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic were dismissed from their posts. It’s even good that the unexpected and late triumph in the title race didn’t play a role in the decision of the supervisory board.
The fact that on the day of one of FC Bayern’s most dramatic and emotional title wins practically nobody talks about the triumph of Thomas Müller and Co. and that the spectacle of the council outshines everything, the supervisory board members have to take credit for.
Despite the surprising late triumph, 2022/23 will go down in history as a pretty bad season for Bayern Munich, for which Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic are largely responsible. The Supervisory Board analyzed this correctly in its analysis. But neither of them deserved this undignified way of being called off the day before the crucial game.
If Oliver Kahn hasn’t written complete nonsense on social networks, then just dealing with him would be a blatant scandal. To forbid him to travel to Cologne and denying the longtime team captain, multiple title holder and admittedly hapless CEO access to the championship celebration would be just shabby.
Especially since it is not possible to understand what the sudden rush was about. What was the need for an extraordinary supervisory board meeting on the day before the Bundesliga final when you wanted to meet four days later anyway for the regular meeting? Wasn’t the original date of the meeting postponed by a week to May 30 with the justification that the title fight had not yet been decided?
FC Bayern: Dealing with Kahn a blatant scandal
But also regardless of that: Why did the councilors take Kahn and Salihamidzic’s chance to celebrate the title with the team with their decision on Friday evening – no matter how hypothetical this title win was on Friday? And why did you bother Thomas Tuchel in preparing for the most important game of his tenure so far by informing him of the decision?
Did the supervisory board members lack confidence in themselves and their courage? Were you afraid that after a possible title win in Cologne you might not have the heart to recall the two?
Or could the councils no longer imagine that something could still happen with the eleventh title in a row? Did you want to go on vacation and get the “anything but easy” (President Herbert Hainer on Kahn’s dismissal) and the “difficult” (Hainer on Salihamidzic’s dismissal) decision behind you?
Difficult to say which of these would be even less Bayern-like. In any case, the procedure was unworthy and horrible in its portrayal.
In their cold-heartedness, the dismissal of the two previous faces of FC Bayern was even worse than the dismissal of Julian Nagelsmann, who had to learn from a reporter on a skiing holiday that his services were no longer in demand.
FC Bayern: A lot broke in Munich
In all clarity: the dismissal of Kahn and Salihamidzic at the end of May 2023 was less surprising and also much more understandable than Nagelsmann’s dismissal in March 2023. In the end, the two ex-board members, in addition to some unsuccessful transfer periods, also the dismissal of the coach fell on their feet: Der The eleventh championship title in a row was not won despite Thomas Tuchel, but certainly not because of the change of coach. While there was still something bipolar about Nagelsmann’s team – excellent performances were always followed by inexplicable slumps in form – Bayern under Tuchel only rumbled and staggered through the games and regularly collapsed in the second half.
Not much was missing and Bayern almost lost their wages in Cologne in the second half, despite the kind help from Dortmund; Jamal Musiala’s goal in the 89th minute had a lot to do with the old Bayern Munich. In the end, it’s probably not so easy to shake off old habits – fortunately for Bayern and their fans and to the chagrin of the Bundesliga.
But the eleventh title in a row cannot hide the fact that a lot went wrong in Munich this season.
Even after Nagelsmann’s dismissal, Lothar Matthäus and others close to the club, not entirely wrongly, diagnosed that Bayern had lost the Mia san Mia.
Now FC Bayern seems to have lost FC Bayern as a whole. Dealing with Kahn and Salihamidzic wasn’t Hollywood, it was at best RTL 2.
FC Bayern is unrecognizable
The German record champion is unrecognizable. And that, although (or maybe even because?) Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge are said to be involved again or again.
Hoeneß was never away from the supervisory board, Rummenigge should now, according to information from Picture join and help with transfer questions. But for the first time in living memory, no one on the board of the largest and most glorious German football club has the smell of FCB or at least a stable football odor.
The fact that at FC Bayern shrewd power-seekers, who had previously been good kickers at the club, decide the weal and woe of their favorite club, Bayern have successfully sold internationally for decades as their unique selling point.
And now?
Jan-Christian Dreesen, the new CEO for the time being, was CFO of FC Bayern for the last ten years and before that a banker on the board of Bayern Munich’s long-standing sponsor HypoVereinsbank.
Michael Diederich, the new CFO, was previously also a banker and at times even CEO of Unicredit.
Andreas Jung, the long-standing Marketing Director, was an official at the German Cyclists’ Association in his first life.
President and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Herbert Hainer was CEO of FC Bayern shareholders Adidas before 2019.
That in itself is not a problem. If you could run banks and sporting goods giants, you should, in theory, be able to run a football company. But if that’s supposed to be the new style at FC Bayern, then good night!
Especially since these people are now allowed to push ahead with the upcoming rebuilding of FC Bayern Munich with their methods. Dreesen is more of a transitional CEO.
