The exact procedure for the separation of FC Bayern from coach Julian Nagelsmann continues to cause confusion. The pay-TV channel Sky quoted on Saturday evening the management of the 35-Year-old, which announced that there had been before the media reports last Thursday "no contact and no contact attempt of the Bavarians". "The management of Julian Nagelsmann has called Hasan Salihamidzic even after various rumors in the media," wrote the agency Sports 360, according to Sky.
On Friday, March 24, Nagelsmann went to the decisive meeting at the Bayern headquarters in Säbener Straße. Subsequently, the record champions announced the separation and the commitment of successor Thomas Tuchel. However, both personal details had already been extensively reported on Thursday evening, also by the F.A.Z.
Sports director Salihamidzic had said on Sunday in the Sport1 "double pass": "The first one we called was Julian Nagelsmann." Nagelsmann's agency initially did not respond to a dpa request for comment. Salihamidzic also told Sport1 on Saturday that he had tried several times to "reach Julian" immediately after Tuchel's commitment. At some point he "called their management and then I called Julian again".
"That was a disaster"
Bayern boss Oliver Kahn said before the 4-2 win against Borussia Dortmund that the process was ultimately "a disaster", but that was due to the fact that the information about Nagelsmann had been leaked to the media. "That certainly wasn't one from FC Bayern. (...) We're not shooting ourselves in the foot," Kahn said.
To inform Nagelsmann, who was still on holiday on Thursday, only on the phone about the decision of the management team to separate, is not the style of FC Bayern. Therefore, the personal conversation was necessary. "It was clear from the beginning that the first to know was Julian Nagelsmann. And even after this leak, we did. After that, there was no contact with any media," Kahn said.
"Of course it was a difficult situation." The negotiations with Tuchel were also decisive. "Until you have the commitment of a coach or a player, we can't discuss or let anything out beforehand. We have to follow a clean process, and that's what we've done," Kahn said.
Record national player Lothar Matthäus, who had already verbally clashed with Kahn during the Sky interview round before the top game, followed up afterwards. "The chronological sequence, as described by Kahn, does not fit together," Matthäus told the news portal "T-Online". "I know Oliver Kahn is lying."
"It's always easy to criticize from the sidelines. Of course, these are difficult decisions," said Bayern President Herbert Hainer. Kahn firmly rejected Matthew's accusation of lying. "We have always told the truth," he said on Sunday at the TV station "Bild". "I don't know what Lothar, as he says, sees, hears or even feels."
Matthäus had risen after his career "via one or the other detour" to the "chief critic of German football," said Kahn on Sunday morning. The fact that you don't wear kid gloves and it is sometimes violent, is fine. "However, certain limits should not be exceeded. He said that we had trampled on the 'Mia san Mia'. I still don't know exactly what he means by that," Kahn said.
"Only when you criticize the chief critic himself, I always have the feeling that he can not deal with it at all and then lets himself be carried away to such baseless and styleless statements. He who accuses us, and thus also FC Bayern, of acting quietly. But that's Lothar, that's not going to change," criticized Kahn. "Hasan and I, we have always told the truth and even these claims by Lothar do not change anything."
Thomas Tuchel also spoke on Saturday on Sky about the change of coach. "I was honestly surprised at the beginning that it was about an immediate job. I thought that maybe we would have an exploratory talk, whether I have already agreed somewhere for the summer," he said. "The bosses were then very clear about what they wanted. It was immediately clear that it was about immediately. That's why there was no tactics and no plan B for me."