Thomas Tuchel gives “no details about the one-on-one conversation” in which the early separation between coach and FC Bayern was decided. But the 50-year-old’s words suggest that he would have liked to have worked in Munich beyond the summer.
The abbreviation “FC” in FC Bayern may stand for “football club”, but the people of Munich are much more than that. On the one hand, because the FCB also offers a home to basketball players, bowlers and chess players, for example, and on the other hand, because the… Public interest, particularly in professional footballers, goes well beyond results, goal scorers and league tables. After all, the nickname “FC Hollywood” didn’t come into being by chance. The demand for what’s happening away from the lawn is correspondingly high. Especially this week, when the early separation from coach Thomas Tuchel at the end of this season was announced.
An obvious question when it comes to almost any kind of separation is who started it. In FC Bayern’s official announcement on Wednesday, it was said that the club and coach had “jointly decided” to end the collaboration early despite the contract until 2025. In the ZDF “Sportstudio” Tuchel was asked about exactly that formulation.
“I won’t give any details about the one-on-one conversation,” the 50-year-old replied after the hard-fought 2-1 win in Saturday evening’s game against Rasenballsport Leipzig, and then pointed with a grin on his face this and that. As a coach and therefore head of the team, “he is still an employee,” said Tuchel, “and as an employee you don’t always have all the options, you don’t always have all the trump cards in your hand.” But still “everything is good”.
Weeks of coaching discussions at FC Bayern are over
Sentences that can be understood to mean that Tuchel would have liked to have worked at Säbener Strasse beyond the summer. However, for him it “doesn’t matter at all how I deal with the decision”, it’s currently about every point in the hope of overtaking the table leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who are eight points away, in the remaining eleven match days. However, no team in the history of the Bundesliga has caught up with such a deficit so late in the season.
The “main reason for everything was actually to avoid such a spiraling course,” Tuchel explained further. The coaching discussion had previously occupied FC Bayern for weeks. “That’s clear. Whether we like it or not,” summed up the coach, who succeeded Julian Nagelsmann eleven months ago in March 2023. “Sensibilities are put aside.” However, the discussion about who will inherit Tuchel immediately intensified. President Herbert Hainer and CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen have already given insight into their considerations.
However, Tuchel once again rejected sole responsibility for the crisis; with regard to his players, he would be “very, very surprised if I were the backpack that they were carrying around with them”. When asked about the allegedly strained relationship with the team, Tuchel said that he “cannot imagine that an Aleksandar Pavlovic would be happy or relieved that I would quit at the end of the season. Or a Raphaël Guerreiro, Minjae Kim or Manuel Neuer.”
Thomas Müller sees no liberating effect
The same Manuel Neuer, who was also the team captain, emphasized on Sky that Tuchel’s failure was also putting a strain on the professionals. “It reflects badly on all of us,” said the 37-year-old, who had repeatedly made strong saves to prevent a deficit before Harry Kane’s last-minute winning goal. “Every player should have a guilty conscience and look after their own nose!” It’s already the case at school “that the teacher isn’t always to blame for the bad grades.”
If FC Bayern’s management had speculated that the prematurely announced separation would be able to release fresh talent – there was little of that to be seen against Leipzig. Once again, the record champions were rarely able to convince in terms of play. In the final phase – before Kane’s goal in stoppage time – there were even isolated whistles during the build-up to the game.
If the bosses had hoped that the prematurely announced separation from Tuchel would have a liberating effect, they were mistaken. Thomas Müller also said that he “doesn’t think that this will change us as people and our game.” And so the hope remains, which Tuchel also expressed on Sky after the first win after three defeats in a row: “Everything is possible in sport, including a happy ending. We know what the future will bring “Not me. We’ll play for now.”