Bayern Munich Board Frowns At Coach’s Resignation Statement

As THEWILL reported on Saturday, in post-match comments after Bayern’s hard-fought 3-2 victory over Wolfsburg, the 56-year-old announced that he hoped to terminate his contract, which is supposed to run until summer 2023, this year.

THEWILL recalls that there were insiders at the Allianz Arena, like Lothar Matthaeus and Stefan Effenberg, who had concluded that Flick was on his way out based on internal disagreements with the Sports Director Hasan Salihamidzic. But, Flick’s announcement came days after Bayern’s exit from the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain and amid reports he is set to replace Joachim Low as Germany’s coach.

Now, the Bavarian club’s board has come out to state that even though Flick had informed them of his desire to leave, they did not approve of him making it public at this time.

An official statement to this effect was published on the club’s website and it read: “FC Bayern head coach Hansi Flick made public his wish to terminate his contract, which runs until June 2023, at the end of the current season.

“Hansi Flick had informed the FC Bayern München AG executive board of this wish during the past week. Hansi Flick and FC Bayern had agreed to place the focus on the matches against VfL Wolfsburg, Bayer 04 Leverkusen (20 April) and 1. FSV Mainz 05 (24 April), in order not to disrupt the concentration of the whole club on these three important matches.

“FC Bayern disapproves of the unilateral communications issued by Hansi Flick and will continue talks after the match at Mainz, as agreed.”

It is unclear how Flick will respond to the public censure. The Manager guided Bayern to the European and domestic treble last season with the club claiming a historic sextuple. In an unusual COVID-19 season, Bayern is again on course to successfully defend the domestic title this term.

Yet, with all these, Flick’s future has looked uncertain for months, especially given the rift from the internal squabbles with Sporting Director Salihamidzic. Although Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge tried to rule out any hope of the coach leaving the club any time soon since the pair has settled their differences, speculation only increased after the unceremonious UCL exit at the hands of PSG, whom they beat to the title last season.

The Board may also be miffed by the fact that Flick went on air to reveal his decision especially with all the fingers pointing to him being considered the top candidate to replace Low after the Germany boss confirmed he will step down after Euro 2020.

However, reports are beginning to swirl around the Allianz Arena that claim that Italian coach, Massimiliano Allegri, is being looked at by the German giants as a potential candidate to replace Flick. The Italian has been out of the game since leaving Juventus in 2019 and may be considering a return, even if he had previously revealed a preference for the English Premier League.