Before the top game between FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund (4: 2) there were poisonous scenes. However, not on the pitch, but just off it when Oliver Kahn gave an interview to the broadcaster Sky. The CEO was tackled harshly by moderator Sebastian Hellmann and expert Lothar Matthäus and then handed out properly himself.
It was about the dismissal of coach Julian Nagelsmann. The fact that he lost his job, although he was second in the quarter-finals of both cup competitions and in the league, caused great astonishment. The fact that he also found out about his resignation from the media seemed highly unprofessional.
Kahn admitted this openly when asked by Hellmann. “The way it went is a disaster,” said the former national goalkeeper. While he and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic were working towards Thomas Tuchel’s final commitment, the information about the decision to change coaches reached the public and thus also reached Nagelsmann’s ears.
“It wasn’t from FC Bayern,” Kahn clarified and spoke of a leak: “We’re not shooting ourselves in the foot. It was clear that Julian Nagelsmann should be the first to know. After the leak we did it immediately. It was a stuck situation.” He had planned to tell Nagelsmann personally. Nagelsmann was on a skiing holiday in the Alps.
Hellmann wasn’t satisfied with that and continued to investigate. He asked: why wait for Tuchel’s commitment to announce the end to Nagelsmann? Increasingly annoyed, Kahn said: “It might work in their theoretical world, but it’s different in the practical world. As long as we don’t have a coach’s approval, we can’t make any decisions beforehand. We have to have a clean process, and we did. Unfortunately, Julian Nagelsmann could not come to Säbener Straße because he was on vacation.”
Demand: “But why can’t you call the coach and tell him that it’s over when you make a decision like that?” Kahn: “You don’t want to tell a coach who wasn’t in Munich at the time that you breaks up with him. That’s not my style, that’s not FC Bayern’s style.”
Then Matthäus criticized that the club motto “Mia san mia”, which actually defines Bavaria, had been lost. Now the mood has finally changed. Kahn addressed his interlocutors directly. “I would like to tell you one thing,” he began: “You guys who always stand here and say the club has no style, it’s not ‘mia san mia’. I don’t know what you think? I’ll ask you, Lothar: What is this ‘Mia san mia’? Is there a set way of doing that?”
Matthäus, like Kahn a legend at FC Bayern, had already criticized the actions of the Bavarian leadership in the past few days. He said: “To call an employee a long-term project a few days ago and then fire him. I don’t think that’s right and it also has something to do with credibility.”
Now he got a broadside from Kahn live on television and replied: “Olli, I don’t want to wage a private war against you. You are welcome to call me at any time. I’m not saying that things have gotten worse, but that things have changed. Other leaders have a different style.”
Kahn poisoned: “Perhaps one or the other suffers from memory distortion. There have always been difficult decisions in the past that had to be made for the success of this club. That’s not always difficult. We’re standing here today and are one point behind Dortmund, although we used to have a nine-point lead. That’s just one reason. But always these insinuations that we have bad style…”
Matthäus then accused Kahn: “You’re distracting, you’re going to a secondary theater of war instead of answering questions.”
He then got one for the case of Hellmann. The Sky man wanted to know whether it wasn’t an option to drive to Nagelsmann by car to tell him the end personally. Answer Kahn: “Yes, it was an option, but we decided differently.”
In the end, Hellmann concluded with an absolutely correct classification (“Interesting discussion”) and shook hands with Kahn. He grabbed her reluctantly, but didn’t look at Hellmann. Matthäus, on the other hand, not only got Kahn’s hand when he said goodbye, but also a look into his eyes. Albeit not a friendly one.
And the story didn’t end here. Nagelsmann and his management “Sports 360” didn’t want to just let Kahn’s statements stand. The agency let it be known via Sky that Bayern had by no means called their client. Quote: “There was no contact and no attempt to make contact by Bayern. Julian Nagelsmann’s management called Hasan Salihamidzic even after the rumors in the media.”