You reap what you sow: The ironic exit of Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidžić
The saying ‘what goes around comes around’ seems highly apt the day after Bayern Munich took advantage of Borussia Dortmund’s slip to clinch their eleventh Bundesliga title in a row. While the players rejoiced on [...]
The saying ‘what goes around comes around’ seems highly apt the day after Bayern Munich took advantage of Borussia Dortmund’s slip to clinch their eleventh Bundesliga title in a row. While the players rejoiced on the pitch at the Rhein-Energie Stadion, CEO Oliver Kahn was brooding back in Munich having been fired and forbidden to attend the final match of the season.
Back in March it was trainer Julian Nagelsmann, who was ruthlessly fired by Bayern after losing to Bayer Leverkusen and finding out the news whilst on a short holiday during the international break. CEO Oliver Kahn took the flak for the manner of the sacking and even got into a slagging match with club legend Lothar Matthäus for seemingly abandoning the club’s motto of ‘Mia San Mia’.
This weekend it was Kahn’s turn to be ruthlessly fired by the club. The writing had been on the wall and it was believed his dismissal would come after Tuesday’s supervisory board meeting, but President Herbert Hainer was in no mood to hang about.
“The season hasn’t gone as we hoped” Hainer explained on Saturday. “We discussed among ourselves in the executive board and supervisory board. We saw warning signs and decided to make a fresh start in the new season and part company with Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidžić.
“Uli Hoeneß and I conducted the talks with Hasan Salihamidžić and Oliver Kahn on Thursday, so that they had enough time to come to terms with this situation and also out of respect for these two great personalities. With Hasan it went very well, we came to a mutual agreement and he travelled to Cologne.
“We had the same talk with Oliver, which was very emotional and we couldn’t come to an amicable conclusion. Following that we called an extraordinary advisory board meeting on Friday and decided to dismiss Oliver and that he wouldn’t travel to Cologne.”
Some reports claim that Kahn was apoplectic on hearing that he was fired immediately and couldn’t join the team in Köln for the title celebrations. He has denied this via social media, but it does seem that he was informed by e-mail that he should not attend the Rhein-Energie Stadion.
“My plan was to come to Köln and then of course celebrate the title with the squad, but I was forbidden” Kahn fumed via Twitter. “That was the worst day of my life, to take the chance of celebrating with the boys away from me” he added speaking to Sky.
One can only wonder what Julian Nagelsmann makes of the ironic situation.
The installation of Kahn as CEO seemed the logical step for Bayern after the retirements of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeneß, but as it turns out ‘good’ is just not good enough for Bayern and ‘only’ winning the Bundesliga is seen as a failure on the part of both Kahn and Salihamidžić.
Some might see ‘Brazzo’s removal as a little harsh, but there are a number of failing that can be laid squarely at his door. The failure to sign an adequate replacement for Robert Lewandowski, failing to iron out the difficulties that led to the Pole’s departure in the first place, and failing to pay David Alaba his worth, while handing out a massive wage to Lucas Hernandez, are just some of the accusations levelled at him.
I’m sure if Alannis Morissette were to write an updated version of her 1990’s hit ‘Ironic’ she’d find it very easy to come up with a new line to sum up the whole Kahn/ Salihamidžić/ Nagelsmann scenario. We may not have heard the last of this.
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