Before Bayern Munich hired Vincent Kompany, the club was — at least — loosely attached to a multitude of candidates for its head coaching vacancy, including Julian Nagelsmann, Hansi Flick, Ralf Rangnick, Xabi Alonso, Oliver Glasner, Roger Schmidt, Julen Lopetegui, and Unai Emery among others.
With former Bayern Munich managers Flick and Nagelsmann being on that list, you might be curious how a deal did not get done with at least one of them. In Flick’s case, the sextuple winner — allegedly — only
wanted a short-term contract, which did not sit well with board member for sport Max Eberl (even though Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeneß were reportedly supportive of a return for Flick). Flick, of course, ultimately landed with FC Barcelona.
As for Nagelsmann, his agent, Volker Struth, revealed how it all played out for the Germany national team skipper.
“I had a feeling they [Bayern] would come back – and they did. Max Eberl called me, and then called Sascha Breese [Nagelsmann’s second agent] and I met with him and Jan-Christian Dreesen in Munich,” Struth told Bild (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “Julian was never involved and had asked us to handle the situation very sensitively. In March, there were international matches in France and against the Netherlands, which went perfectly. The atmosphere before the EUROs at home was really starting to build up. The fact that talks were even taking place could have jeopardized the tournament. Ultimately, that was a crucial reason why Julian didn’t do it – especially since the dismissal was still fresh.
“Uli Hoeneß called me, too, and said that the separation with Julian wasn’t handled in a Bayern-like way and that he would welcome Julian back as coach.”
It was reported at the time, that Hoeneß was very unhappy about the handling of Nagelsmann’s very public (and very embarrassing) sacking by former CEO Oliver Kahn and former sporting director Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidžić. Of course, when the new hire, Thomas Tuchel, turned out to be one of the most divisive and controversial selections in the club’s history, it made it easy for Hoeneß (and others) to yearn for a simpler time when Nagelsmann was just non-stop tinkering, alienating one of the club’s all-time great players (Robert Lewandowski), and opting to go striker-less for an entire season.
Yes, that was all still preferable to Tuchel taking a blowtorch to the relationship between the coaching staff and the locker room.
From Nagelsmann’s standpoint, it is hard to know if he made the right move in passing on the chance to return. The German national team is not exactly a juggernaut and it would be hard to gauge just how much better the squad is now than when he took over. Of course, opportunities to coach at a club like Bayern Munich just do not come by all that often.
Maybe another time? Maybe not? Only time — and a great World Cup showing — will tell if Nagelsmann is ready for the jump back to club football.
For Bayern Munich, though, things ended up just fine.
Song of the Midweek: “Uprising” by Muse
I didn’t delve too far into the past for this one, but I had not heard it in quite a while, but it did not really lose any of its luster after a long break from listening.
Released in 2009 (it is hard to believe that was 17 years ago already!), Muse released this one that had become a staple on alt-rock stations (particularly the one we have left in Philadelphia). Enjoy:
Entertainment Rundown
We will be reviewing the season finale of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on Friday…and we’ve got a lot to say.
Predictions
Champions League
Tuesday, February 24th
- Atlético Madrid 2-1 Club Brugge (Atlético Madrid advances 5-4_
- Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Olympiacos (Bayer Leverkusen advances 3-0)
- Inter Milan 3-0 Bodo/Glimt (Inter advances 4-3)
- Newcastle United 2-0 FK Qarabag (Newcastle United advances 8-1)
Wednesday, February 25th
- Atalanta 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Borussia Dortmund advances 3-1)
- Juventus 2-1 Galatasaray (Galatasaray advances 6-4)
- Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 AS Monaco (Paris Saint-Germain advances 5-3)
- Real Madrid 3-0 Benfica (Real Madrid advances 4-0)
Prediction Records
- Total: 398-233
- Perfect Picks: 38
- Bundesliga Last Matchday: 3-6
- Bundesliga Overall: 121-87
- DFB-Pokal: 49-11
- World Cup Qualifiers/Friendlies: 99-45
- Champions League: 85-67
- Club World Cup: 39-23
- Club Friendlies: 4-0
- Franz Beckenbauer Supercup: 1-0
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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