FC Bayern and coach Thomas Tuchel are going their separate ways after a series of failures – but not until the summer. Why?
Does Thomas Tuchel have to leave FC Bayern or can he stay? This question has been on the football world’s mind in recent days following the German record champions’ recent series of defeats. Now the Bayern bosses have apparently found an answer: somehow both.
As the club announced on Wednesday, Tuchel will be giving up his job – but not until the summer. The decision raises questions: Why isn’t Tuchel fired immediately? Have Bayern already given up this season?
The suspicion is obvious. But the decision also has its advantages. It could be an important first step for the change in the summer.
Not a hasty decision
The Bayern bosses definitely didn’t make the decision in haste. The last league defeat against Bochum was three days ago. As t-online learned from club circles, there was no new incident or trigger for the decision that was made. In fact, many discussions have been held in the past few days and – as Bavaria has publicly claimed – this solution has actually been agreed upon.
The decision now gives Bayern bosses enough time to look for a successor to Tuchel. They will also need time if they actually want to get rid of the rumored ideal solution, Xabi Alonso, from Leverkusen. He is currently making no move to change clubs. And even if they did, Bayern would have to outdo Liverpool FC, who are also reportedly eyeing the Spaniard as Jürgen Klopp’s successor and are currently doing much better in terms of sport.
Immediate dismissal would hardly have been possible
At the same time, it would hardly have been possible for the Munich team to find another coach in the middle of the season who would lead the title hunt, which currently seems quite hopeless, to at least one success. The prospects for this are bleak: Bayern are already out of the DFB Cup, and a similar fate threatens in the Champions League after the 1-0 defeat in the first leg of the round of 16 at Lazio Rome. And in the Bundesliga? With the German record champions eight points behind, the championship trophy seems to be on its way to Leverkusen.
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Hardly any coach of international class would take the risk of not winning a title in the end and going into the new season burnt out again in the summer. That may also have played a role in the Bayern bosses’ considerations.
The players should finally deliver
According to t-online information, they would rather hold the players accountable by separating in the summer. The thought: An immediate change of coach would have given the players an excuse for their poor performance. Instead, they should be held responsible for the bad season and now show what they can do.
The bosses’ additional hope is that the decision will finally put a brake on the players – an effect that has been awaited for a long time. The Bayern bosses are hoping for a similar effect to the 2013 triple season under Jupp Heynckes. For him, too, his departure for the summer was decided early on, and the decision gave the players a boost that ultimately carried them to three titles.
Does Bavaria do it like BVB?
The departure of Jürgen Klopp from Borussia Dortmund is seen internally as another positive example. After a weak first half of 2014, in which BVB was last in the table at times, Klopp announced his departure before the end of the season in April 2015. In the end, the team made it to seventh place and later qualified for the Europa League.