The first severance between FC Bayern and its old stars has failed. Uli Hoeneß was one of the driving forces behind the current revolution. Now he wants to rebuild the club with his trusted team.
At the big championship party one looked in vain for Uli Hoeneß. While the team exuberantly lifted the championship trophy, Thomas Müller splashed beer around him and Hasan Salihamidzic said goodbye to the fans with a lump in his throat, Hoeneß’s distinctive head was looked for in vain. We had already gotten used to championship celebrations without the long-time Bayern boss, but this weekend he once again became one of the main protagonists at FC Bayern.
Actually, Hoeneß had already withdrawn from the operative business in 2019. The president, who was the shining light at FC Bayern for decades, moved into a shadowy existence. Although he continued to exert his influence on the club as a member of the supervisory board and above all as an advisor to Hasan Salihamidzic, he was no longer the powerful man of the past. At the latest since Oliver Kahn replaced Karl-Heinz Rummenigge as CEO in July 2021, Hoeneß threatened to lose the club completely.
Kahn’s biggest mistake was cutting off Hoeneß
Kahn’s biggest mistake was to consciously promote the disconnection between Hoeneß and FC Bayern. Hoeneß had repeatedly complained that Kahn hardly sought his advice, that he was isolating himself. An accusation that he repeated in his first interview after Kahn’s ouster: “The big disappointment is that I thought he could fill the office alone because of his personality, but instead he surrounded himself with his advisors,” Hoeneß told Kicker.
Hoeneß allowed Kahn to do so for a year and a half – then the revolution began. It was during the dismissal of Julian Nagelsmann that Hoeneß intervened deeply in the operational business for the first time. Kahn and Salihamidzic asked for the old master’s help to get the deal across the finish line. The media and fans alike pricked up their ears at Tuchel’s performance when the new coach explicitly thanked Hoeneß for his trust.
The old crew is coming back
It took a good month, then the next public appearance of the old club patriarch followed. FC Bayern had just been eliminated from the Champions League and then lost the lead in the league again against Mainz when the 71-year-old paid his respects at the training ground, shook Tuchel’s hand – clearly visible to the photographers – and involved him Conversation. It seemed like the announcement of a greater calamity. A rumble of thunder in the distance, which was supposed to announce the big thunderstorm that was to be discharged over FC Bayern after the final whistle of the last Bundesliga game.
Now Hoeneß is again very present at Bayern. He becomes the architect at FC Bayern again and wants to renovate it. There should be more peace in the club. In addition, the squad must be rebuilt. The commitment of a center forward, which the Munich team sorely missed this season, is just the biggest of many construction sites. Hoeneß wants to tackle this restructuring, which was caused by the shock of a season without a title, together with his old confidants. With President Herbert Hainer, the Kahn successor Jan-Christian Dreesen and – to all appearances – also with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. The old crew, with which FC Bayern was able to celebrate the treble twice in 2013 and 2020, the greatest successes in the club’s history.
The transformation to the company is progressing
But the club has changed and the duo Rummenigge and Hoeneß will probably no longer hold an official position. Pulling the strings remains in the background. It remains to be seen whether the old constellation in the new distribution of roles can act so successfully again. In recent years, the development from a family football club to a company has progressed even further.
Dreesen – former CFO, now CEO – is a man from the economy. He was never an active footballer, certainly not a club legend. And President Hainer is also a rather matter-of-fact numbers person. They are not the emotional leaders like Hoeneß and Rummenigge. But now they still have to lead the club – and in the long run they have to cut the cord from the old grandees again. We’ll see if that succeeds this time.
In the video: Hainer explains how Kahn and Salihamidzic separated
That is the European perspective at BR24.
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Source: BR24 05/30/2023 – 6:30 p.m
