Former right-hand man of Joachim Low replaces Niko Kovac at Bayern
Hansi Flick
T
he only way to
describe the latest
palace revolution at
Bayern is to observe
events through the
prism of player power.
A struggle for influence,
pitting the dressing room against coach
Niko Kovac, had been going on for
months. Too many of the club’s stars
simply did not buy into his vision for
the team. Indeed, many would claim he
never had one at all. When push came to
shove, the players donned the black cap.
Bayern president Uli Hoeness – in one
of his last acts before retiring and calling
time on almost half a century of service
at the serial champions – admitted as
much when he said: “There definitely was
a tendency within the team who wanted
to get rid of the trainer. Because of this,
the board reacted accordingly.”
The following day, Hoeness made theHeadliners
same assertion to Kicker magazine,
explaining: “Why shouldn’t I tell the
truth? The greatest pressure came
from the team. I’m always in favour of
communication and talking. The players
can give their opinions but, in the end,
the club leadership has to decide.”
Bayern have previous, with the
unceremonious way in which Carlo
Ancelotti was forced out in September
2017 when five key players – among
them Thomas Muller, Franck Ribery and
Arjen Robben – allegedly turned against
the Italian.
Kovac is now licking his wounds
following his defenestration but he can
have few complaints. The harsh truth is
that this was a collaboration which was
never going to end well.
The domestic league-and-cup double
that Kovac oversaw last term only served
to paper over the cracks. For all his
organisational skills, steely will-to-winand good humour, the job was simply
way too big for him. Kovac did not have
the same aura and authority as
predecessors Pep Guardiola, Jupp
Heynckes and Ancelotti. A grand club
requires a gold-standard leader on the
touchline – and the former Eintracht
Frankfurt boss was just not a good fit.
That’s not to say he did not try to
stamp his mark on the Bavarians. Yet,
somehow, it all seemed forced and
unnatural. As a communicator and
man-manager he lacked deftness,
and on more than one occasion he
gave the impression of not having his
finger on the dressing-room pulse.
His tendency to blame poor
performances on the players’ attitude
rather than his own tactical choices left
him increasingly isolated. And so did
his labelling of out-of-favour attacking
midfielder Thomas Muller as “a stopgap”.
Kovac turned out to be the exactCaretaker...Flick’s
first game in charge,
against Olympiakos