Bayern Munich president Herbert Hainer discusses the club’s future and recalls his first year in office

Bayern Munich have had an incredibly successful run under Hansi Flick and the club’s quick switch to beast mode after Niko Kovač’s substandard stint is still a hot topic of discussion nearly everywhere. In an interview given to Bild, president Herbert Hainer reminisced about the treble winning campaign and discussed several aspects regarding the club’s future.

“It was an incredibly intense year. Since Hansi Flick took over in autumn 2019, we won everything there’s to win. Now we lost two games, that can always happen. Hansi managed the situation professionally and repeatedly stresses that you have to work hard every day to stay at the top,” said Hainer (via @iMiaSanMia on Twitter)

The pandemic brought with it unfortunate consequences and in no time the finances took a hit. Bayern also had to deal with a significant loss in income last year.

“The €100m loss is primarily due to the lack of fans income. We will certainly not generate a profit in the current financial year. We’re leaders in economics even internationally. We have no debts, we own our stadium 100% and the campus is paid off. We are well positioned and will be stable going out of this crisis,” he said.

Photo by M. Donato/FC Bayern via Getty Images

The Club World Cup, which was initially postponed due to the coronavirus, kicks off in a week and the Bavarians are aiming to lift the sixth and final silverware of the 2019/2020 season. Hainer said that the team is looking forward to the tournament and are determined to bring the trophy home.

There are talks about some players getting regularly side-lined and a few of them not living up to the club’s expectations. Hainer was asked if he thinks the new signings should do better: “The task in the summer was to strengthen the squad in terms of depth, because the schedule is too tight. It’s not easy to win a starting spot at Bayern, because ahead of you there’s a treble winner. Overall, we’re well equipped.”

Rummenigge wishes to keep Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller in Munich to take over the front office in the future. Hainer agrees with the chairman and explained that he would love to see the duo working for the management:

“Integrating successful ex-players into the management is one of Bayern’s secrets of success. Rummenigge & Hoeneß are best examples. That’s also why we got Kahn as successor. Müller and Neuer stand for FC Bayern par excellence. I would be happy if both of them were interested.”

Photo by Sebastian Widmann/Bongarts/Getty Images

“I don’t know what Thomas Müller’s plans are. Whether he wants to become a successful dressage rider or breeder at some point (laughs),” quipped Hainer.

Hainer tackled the rumours of Flick leaving at the end of the season and said that he looks forward to watching the boss lead the club to their next set of titles. He also mentioned that the front office is dealing Alaba’s situation professionally and the Austrian’s move to Real Madrid is not finalized yet.