Future Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn wants the club to learn from Hansi Flick’s departure

The biggest story of the Bayern Munich season was undoubtedly the departure of ultra-successful manager Hansi Flick from the club.

When asked by Sport1 if the club did not put forth enough effort to retain the coach, future Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn indicated the job opening with Germany probably made it all a moot point at this stage of Flick’s career.

“I had a lot of conversations with Hansi. In between, I had the feeling that we could do it. But that the topic of the national team interested him when Jogi Löw announced his resignation after the European Championship and it could not be ignored,” Kahn said. “Ultimately, (Flick) made his decision and shared it with us. From our management point of view, it would have been negligent not to act immediately.”

Of course, part of the fallout from Flick’s departure was losing assistant coaches Hermann Gerland and Miroslav Klose.

“Absolutely. In the club we all know what we owe to Hermann Gerland. For example, I worked with him myself when I was active. We know his enormous qualities and his eye for young players,” Kahn stated.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

As for how things devolved with Flick, Kahn thinks it was just one of those things that can sometimes happen in business.

“It is in the nature of things that there can be different views from time to time. The coach always looks at the current squad,” said Kahn. “The sporting director must pay attention to the economic aspects, especially in the Corona period. Despite the friction, in my opinion we tried everything to keep Hansi in Munich. But at some point you have to respect his decision.”

No one liked seeing an internal disagreement go pubic — especially Kahn. The future CEO accepted blame on behalf of the club, but knows the front office can learn from what happened.

“It’s not like we all pat each other on the back in retrospect. We certainly didn’t do everything right. We, too, will sit down over the next few weeks and look back at what we could have done better,” said Kahn. “We should have acted differently and now the situation is what it is. But in the past, great players and great coaches have left a lot, and FC Bayern almost always continued to be more successful. We should keep that in mind.”