Bayern Munich offers statement of support to Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidzic

When the feuding between manager Hansi Flick and sporting director Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidzic was made public, some Bayern Munich fans felt the need to pick a side.

And in some cases, things probably went a little too far. The club itself is backing Salihamidzic amid “hostility” and “personal attacks” being directed at the sporting director.

Club president Herbert Hainer released a statement via FCBayern.com showing support for Salihamidzic:

“FC Bayern stands united and emphatically against hostility towards Hasan Salihamidzic,” Hainer said. “Objective criticism is, of course, always permissible. However, we condemn personal attacks and agitation in the strongest possible terms. There is no place in the slightest for that at FC Bayern.”

“There are two sides to every coin,” Hainer explained. “All of us, including myself, were happy about the team’s great performances and the excellent football of the past 18 months, and we understand that a coach would preferably like to have a squad with 30 top stars – we all feel that way. But we have the coronavirus and have to figure with a loss of revenue of around €150 million.” FC Bayern is “still in a good financial position, but the strain is considerable”. According to the president, the task of a board member for sport is to take into account not only the sporting aspects but also the economic ones. “It’s basically inherent in the system that a coach has more of an eye on short-term success, and a board member for sport has to figure for the medium to long term.” In this context, Hainer made it clear that “we make all decisions together, including the composition of the squad. And we’ll also work together to ensure that a) things calm down again and b) we continue to write our success story in the future.”