After Kahn was thrown out: Sepp Maier settles: “It’s no longer my FC Bayern”
Goalkeeper icon Sepp Maier has sharply criticized the circumstances of the separation from Bayern Munich club boss Oliver Kahn and put his relationship with the German record champions into perspective. “Honestly? It’s not my Bayern Munich anymore,” said the 79-year-old in an interview.
In all the decades, Sepp Maier has “only experienced 90 percent of the good things with Bayern”, but the unpleasant ten percent include “the current situation. The thing with Oli has a stale aftertaste,” he explained in an interview with Sport1. “Honestly, that’s not my FC Bayern anymore. I’m still very interested in what’s going on there, after all I’ve worked for the club for 50 years,” says Maier.
Immediately after winning the Bundesliga title last Saturday, the club announced that Oliver Kahn and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic had been kicked out. “You just don’t do that, no matter what happened. You should have said goodbye to Brazzo and Oli with dignity. They didn’t deserve that. It was bad style,” Maier complained.
Maier on Kahn freak out: “It was definitely like that”
The 1974 world champion was reminded of his dismissal at Bayern under coach Jürgen Klinsmann. “I didn’t know anything about that either. So I can put myself in Oli’s mood.”
The timing of the recall was catastrophic. “I didn’t understand that and that’s not worthy of FC Bayern. If the gentlemen had done that a week later, that would have been fine with me,” said Maier.
But he could well imagine that Kahn could have freaked out in the dismissal talks with President Herbert Hainer and Honorary President Uli Hoeneß: “I know Oli, that was definitely the case. But the upper management at FC Bayern should also take a look at their own noses, because the conversation was held a week too early.” The Bayern management probably no longer expected the championship to be won 2-1 in Cologne, he emphasized.
“Oli has never been ill in his life”
Maier also cannot imagine that Kahn missed the game in Cologne because of the flu: “No. That was the conversation on Thursday, he freaked out, so on Friday it was decided not to take him with us. Oli has never been sick in his life. You just have to remember how Oli freaked out as a goalkeeper: Against Andi Herzog when he stretched his ears. Or the kung fu kick against Heiko Herrlich. This is Oli. You cannot change.”
Maier accompanied Kahn for many years as a goalkeeping coach and knows him very well: “Oli was always a lone wolf. He was only fixated on sheer success. (…) He didn’t look left and right. That might work as a goalkeeper, but not when you’re in a managerial position at Bayern Munich. Then that’s an absurdity. You have to talk to the employees and get their opinion. Oli has listened too much to his advisors. He didn’t need any advisers at all. He just did his thing.”
