Oliver Kahn (left) was even banned from Bayern’s Bundesliga championship ceremony. Photo: Reuters.
People often use the nickname “FC Hollywood” to refer to Bayern Munich due to this club’s internal conflicts and many behind-the-scenes problems. However, that concept has been around since the 1990s and Salihamidzic or Kahn being sacked on the day Bayern Munich won Germany probably has nothing to do with the off-field market.
Bayern president, Herbert Hainer, has only taken over at the club since 2019 and is ambitious to change the old management of the club when it relies too much on former players. The duo of Sports Director (Salihamidzic) and CEO (Kahn) are simply not considered good enough to bring the Bavarian club to continue to conquer the top.
Cruelty
Kahn said “this is one of the worst days of my life” when he learned that he had been sacked by Bayern as the club’s chief executive officer. “My plan was to go to Cologne and then of course celebrate the title with the team. But I was banned,” the former Germany goalkeeper said bitterly. Not many clubs in the world treat the legend as harshly as Bayern did with Kahn. They can completely let this former goalkeeper come to celebrate with the team and then make a decision to dismiss when the 2022/23 Bundesliga closes the curtain.
However, Bayern’s top leaders seem to want to send a clear message to the rest of the team. At the Allianz Arena, every mistake costs dearly and there is no room for pity or personal affection. Two months ago, it was Kahn who was behind the sacking of Julian Nagelsmann, a decision seen as highly controversial within Bayern.
Up to this point, it can be said that the German club replacing Nagelsmann with Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season has caused chaos, causing Bayern to end the season struggling. Rumors about the Bayern leadership wanting to sack Kahn have appeared since the club was knocked out of the Champions League by Man City. The day before the Bundesliga ended, in an interview with the media, Lothar Matthaus revealed that Kahn was likely to be fired because “he lacks experience”.
Kahn has been CEO of Bayern since June 2021 after Karl-Heinz Rummenigge retired. During Kahn’s two seasons in charge of Bayern, the German club won the Bundesliga but failed in both the Champions League and the National Cup. For two consecutive seasons, Bayern were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the European Cup. Even at the National Cup this season, the Bavarian representative was defeated in the second round.
Unexpected performance is a big reason why Kahn was fired from the CEO position of Bayern. With outstanding potential against domestic rivals, Bayern is expected to perform better than the past two seasons. Salihamidzic, who left much of a mark on Bayern’s transfer business over the past half-decade, also had to leave.
Marcel Sabitzer is one of the unsuccessful deals of the duo Kahn and Salihamidzic. Photo: Bayern.
Ambition to change
Salihamidzic has been Bayern’s sporting director since 2017 and was praised by Rummenigge himself as “who understands the club very well and has the talent to speak five languages”. Jamal Musiala, who scored a 2-1 win for Bayern against Cologne to bring home the Bundesliga title, is the sweet transfer Salihamidzic brings to the club.
In 2019, Salihamidzic convinced Musiala and his family to move from Chelsea to Bayern. Currently, the 20-year-old player is one of the most watched young talents in Europe. However, just one Musiala deal is not enough to save Salihamidzic’s chair.
The former Bosnian player was criticized for unsuccessful deals such as Corentin Tolisso, Renato Sanches or especially Sadio Mane this season. More than 80% of the most expensive deals in Bayern’s history came from the Salihamidzic period and most were unsuccessful. The signing of Mane last summer made Bayern weak both on and off the pitch.
The way Salihamidzic handled the Robert Lewandowski deal also made many key members of Bayern unhappy. The Polish striker once publicly criticized the Bayern leadership when delaying his contract extension and then “going out at night” with Erling Haaland. In the end, Bayern failed to either retain Lewandowski or recruit Haaland. They had to be replaced with Mane, who punched Leroy Sane on the training ground in April.
In recent years, Bayern has advocated continuing to rely on former players in many important executive positions. But there are some opinions that the club is lagging behind other top European rivals. That is probably the reason why the Bavarian team is ready to fire two legends of the club on the day of the coronation. Bayern has always been a club that sets very high standards and anyone can be sacked if they do not meet that requirement.
Tuong Linh | 10:26 May 28, 2023
