Lothar Matthäus has brought Hermann Gerland into discussion as Thomas Tuchel’s successor. A thought that is understandable. Because Bavaria lacks his special form of humanity. One can assume that Max Eberl has already recognized this problem.
“I had to pack packages with Didi Hamann because Herman Gerland didn’t want us hanging around during the summer holidays.” When Max Eberl told this little anecdote during his first press conference as the new sports director of FC Bayern Munich, it was certainly no coincidence. He was asked about his “lifelong dream” and went a little further. Eberl spoke about the growing club, which he was able to accompany for many years as an adolescent.
During all these years, the gnarled and yet so likeable man from Bochum, Hermann Gerland, was omnipresent at FC Bayern Munich. However, the vast majority of football fans only got to know Gerland when he and Jupp Heynckes led the practice session for the record champions for the first time as assistant coach at the end of April 2009.
At that time, Bayern had to part ways with Jürgen Klinsmann – and Uli Hoeneß came up with the idea of sending the unlikely duo Jupp Heynckes and Hermann Gerland onto the pitch. The Bayern manager commented soberly on his decision at the time: “We tried to throw everything the club has into the mix.” But that was just a formal description of a brilliant move back in time.
Carte blanche to help for life
Because then, as now, FC Bayern had somewhat lost the soul of the legendary “Mia san mia” feeling. Because in addition to all the professionalism, Uli Hoeneß in particular always embodied a bit of special warmth. Hoeneß himself once expressed this special kind of humanity in a single sentence: “Anyone who was at FC Bayern and behaved seriously has carte blanche for help for life.”
When there was a need in 2009, Uli Hoeneß remembered his “old friend” Heynckes. But the successful manager didn’t want to let the ex-Bayern coach, who was still considered a bit “strict and aloof”, go after the team alone – and so Hoeneß had the brilliant idea of putting Hermann Gerland at his side. The “Zeit” wrote at the time: “Heynckes provides the experience, Gerland provides the relaxedness.” And that’s exactly how it was. Uli Hoeneß’s plan worked completely. The two complemented each other perfectly and everything culminated in the triple triumph in 2013.
At the party afterwards, Hermann Gerland showed once again why Uli Hoeneß’s idea in April 2009 was so great. A humorous Gerland to a mildly smiling Heynckes: “Josef, Champions League winner, I have a wish. I want you to loosen up a little. Because at some point the Grim Reaper will come. You’ll go to heaven, I’ll go to heaven Hell. Before that we have to really let off steam!”
“It happens that two people can’t get along”
And because the idea worked so wonderfully, Hermann Gerland remained Bayern’s assistant coach when they hired men like Louis van Gaal, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Hansi Flick. Gerland’s humane nature was well received. Internally and externally. There were many years of great success and a time in which you always had the feeling that FC Bayern Munich lived the “Mia san mia” in all its facets. In the summer of 2021, Hermann Gerland said goodbye to FC Bayern after so many years. One of the reasons: his tense relationship with sports director Hasan Salihamidzic. Gerland: “It happens that two people can’t get along, right?”
Of course, Gerland’s departure from the record champions is not to blame for the club’s current situation, but FC Bayern Munich is still missing a guy like Hermann Gerland in every corner these days. One can trust the new sports director Max Eberl to have already recognized this problem. He probably won’t bring Hermann Gerland back if Thomas Tuchel leaves early (as charming as Matthäus’ idea is). At least not alone. But for the future, Eberl will know that this component of “Mia san mia” needs to be brought more to the fore again.
Max Eberl himself can probably contribute a lot to this. Because he not only got to know Hermann Gerland at a young age, but also experienced Uli Hoeneß up close. And no matter who the new coach of FC Bayern Munich will be in the future, everyone now knows: Without this special part of the Bayern gene, the record champions will not make any progress.