Jawad Iqbal Jawad Iqbal

Why do football managers like Thomas Tuchel always get the blame?

BOCHUM, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 18: Thomas Tuchel, Manager of Bayern Munich, is seen prior to the Bundesliga match between VfL Bochum 1848 and FC Bayern München at Vonovia Ruhrstadion on February 18, 2024 in Bochum, Germany. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Bayern Munich’s decision to part ways with their coach Thomas Tuchel is a rather bizarre form of managerial sacking. Tuchel is leaving the job but will be allowed to stay in charge until the end of the season. This can only make a team that is in free fall more unstable.

In a statement on the club’s website, Jan-Christian Dreesen, the Bayern chief executive, said:

‘In an open, good conversation we came to the decision to mutually end our collaboration in the summer.’

This is the same Dreesen who told reporters hours earlier that Tuchel would not be dismissed anytime soon. Tuchel was singing the same tune about an end to collaboration, but promising to do everything he can ‘to ensure maximum success’.

It’s difficult to see how this can work. The players know Tuchel is leaving at the end of the season. It’s hardly an incentive to perform.

Bayern are the latest elite club to be infected with a form of managerial madness.

Written by
Jawad Iqbal

Jawad Iqbal is a broadcaster and ex-television news executive. Jawad is a former Visiting Senior Fellow in the Institute of Global Affairs at the LSE

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