It is with good reason that Manchester City fans might fear the post-Pep Guardiola era – at whatever point in the future that is – given the rate at which Bayern Munich have gone through managers since he left Allianz Arena.
The German giants continued winning Bundesliga until this season but it has hardly been a picture of stability for the men in charge of the team, with Bayern appointing more managers than Manchester United in the time Pep Guardiola has been at the Etihad Stadium.
Six arrivals in less than eight years tells its own story, as does their scattergun approach to finding Thomas Tuchel’s successor this summer, with the former Chelsea manager’s departure announced while he still has a chance of winning the Champions League, even though Bayer Leverkusen took away their title.
Rather like United after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, Bayern’s air of infallibility has been eroded and their succession planning could be politely termed as ad hoc. There are whispers they have something up their sleeve for next season but so far their search for a new manager points to a club that has lost their way.
There have been enquiries over Erik ten Hag, although he is set to lead United to the FA Cup at the end of the domestic season, while Julen Lopetegui has also been on their radar but he is down the line with West Ham United as they move swiftly to replace David Moyes at the end of the campaign.
Ralf Rangnick also spoke to Bayern but decided to stick with the Austria national team, and was moved to make a statement confirming as such. “I want to clearly stress that this is not a rejection of Bayern Munich but rather a decision for my team and our common goals,” the former United interim manager said. Continuing the Old Trafford theme, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was reported by Sky Germany to be an interim option for Bayern.
Xabi Alonso was a target but decided to stay at Leverkusen after taking the title off Bayern, which could mark an end to the best of the Bundesliga being picked off by the Bavarians. That trend goes back to Michael Ballack through to Robert Lewandowski and today’s squad including Serge Gnabry plus others.
Zinedine Zidane masterminding three consecutive Champions League trophies at Real Madrid means he inevitably gets linked to the biggest jobs, while a role of this magnitude has raised the possibility of going back to managers who know the job already: Hansi Flick or Julian Nagelsmann. The latter has since committed his future to the German national team. There has even been a petition from fans for Tuchel to stay.
“FC Bayern decided to dismiss Thomas Tuchel in the summer after the defeat against VFL Bochum. What an atrocious decision!” read the opening statement of the petition, signed by 12,000 fans. Tuchel, however, was unmoved. “Even though this topic is good for me when they [the fans] wish you to stay, it’s not something that is a priority,” he said.
“It isn’t allowed to be a priority. Whether it’s pleasant or unpleasant, I don’t allow myself to be influenced by it.”
For whoever they eventually appoint, Bayern can appear the impossible job at times. Being flat-track bullies of the Bundesliga seems to be the minimum requirement, with honorary president Uli Hoeness causing a storm earlier this season when he insisted Tuchel did not improve players. Tuchel said he was deeply offended by the comments.
“He doesn’t think he can improve a [Alphonso] Davies, [Aleksandar] Pavlovic or [Jamal] Musiala. If it doesn’t work, you should buy someone else. I think you should work hard on them and give them confidence” said Hoeness.
Bayern have face the great Carlo Ancelotti in the Champions League semi-final second leg, which is a reminder of what they had immediately after Guardiola left. Ancelotti was sacked in 2017 as “the performance of our team since the start of the season did not meet the expectations we put on them,” according to chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
His career since suggests Bayern have not been getting it right when it comes to appointing and keeping their managers.
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