‘Mistakes are always forgivable if one has the courage to admit them’ Bruce Lee
The quote attributed to Bruce Lee above could be sent to Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn and President Herbert Hainer and the duo would still probably scratch their heads as to it’s deeper meaning. As Bayern move to within one game of letting slip their decade long dominance of the Bundesliga title, the dark cloud of Julian Nagelsmann’s sacking still hangs over the club and if Bayern do end the season empty handed, someone is going to have to carry the can for the decision to dump the Bayern coach on the homeward stretch.
The rights and wrongs of the manner of Nagelsmann’s sacking aside, the core question will seemingly always haunt Bayern as to whether it was the right decision. If Thomas Tuchel had built upon his debut win in the Klassiker over Dortmund and steered Bayern to the title, then the awkwardness of Nagelsmann’s dismissal could have been swept under the carpet as a necessary evil on the way to preserving Bayern’s hegemony.
As it has panned out, Tuchel has suffered more defeats in eleven games (four) than Julian Nagelsmann did in thirty seven games (just three). Bayern and Oliver Kahn in particular still stick to their guns that they made the right choice. “I understand that this question would be asked. But we spoke about it enough. Due to the results and fluctuating performances, we reached a point where we had to act.
The CEO while admitting that injuries and a post-World Cup hangover has contributed, still remains adamant that the former should shoulder the responsibility.
“We had believed in the future with Julian Nagelsmann. But things developed in a different way that we had imagined. You have to make a decision. The results and the form simply weren’t consistent. We lost a 10-point lead to Dortmund. Just for that, the decision was the right one.”
If you keep repeating something, you start to convince yourself it is true. However, should Borussia Dortmund lift the Meisterschale next weekend and start a week-long party in and around the Borsigplatz, then Kahn et al may have to revisit Bruce Lee’s wise words and eat a rather large slice of humble pie. Either that potentially visit the job centre.
