Disgruntled club members boo Hoeness at Bayern Munich’s general assembly

If you’ve been keeping track of the happenings at Bayern Munich this season, you know that not all is well at the club. At the annual general assembly held today at the Audi Dome (the home of Bayern’s basketball team), a few brave souls openly voiced their frustrations and concerns directly to Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Topics of criticism ranged from the way the club has handled itself publicly, to the color of the seats in the Allianz Arena, to player conduct. One fan in particular was very critical of Uli Hoeness, and he went directly at the President.

On the topic of banning Paul Breitner from the VIP section, the fan stated:

Mr. Dreesen was degraded to phone lackey because you didn’t have it in you to pick up the phone and call your old companion. A club legend is not to be banned. It’s not your stadium, the club does not belong to you. Paul Breitner said what a lot of fans were thinking, and that’s something that needs to be tolerated. That’s article 5 of the Constitution (Grundgesetz), freedom of speech. I’d like it more if we could keep Gianni Infantino away from the VIP sections of this earth, rather than distinguished former players.

He then went on to criticize the hirings of both Hasan Salihamidzic and Niko Kovac, saying that Salihamidzic didn’t even know how to describe his role at the club upon being hired. On Kovac:

Heart is apparently more important than tactics. That’s what I also see in our style. I ask myself how you could be so convinced of him to give him a three year contract!

To wrap it up, the member took up the topic of Qatar, pointing out that while Bayern criticize PSG for their involvement with and backing from Qatar, they seem happy to accept sponsorship money from Qatar Airways. “A wise man once said, ‘FC Bayern is not a One-Man-Show,’ thank you,” he said before stepping away from the microphone.

This was met with applause from the roughly 1,700 club members in attendance. Hoeness, though, was not interested in a discussion, saying the statements “had so many untruths in it it would take three years. I decline to have a discussion on this level,” which was met with boos from the crowd.

One fan called out Jerome Boateng, and more specifically, his magazine, arguing that the players should be focusing on what’s going on on the pitch — especially when they’re not fit and performing — instead of pursuing outside interests.

Nepotism was also brought up in regards to Hoeness, as the sausages sold at the arena are made by his company, and the hiring of Sebastian Hoeness (Uli’s nephew) as the U-19 coach was also brought into question. Hoeness’ dealings to publicly criticize and bash former employees (see: Bernat, Juan) were also touched on by the fans.

At the end of the event, Hoeness, shaking his head, said: “Points were made today that don’t fit how I view FC Bayern.” You’re clearly not the only one.