"They could have been calmer" - Nagelsmann opens up about Bayern sacking

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said of his sacking as Bayern Munich coach in March 2023 that the Bavarian club "could have brought more calm to the whole thing" in that decision.

In an interview with the ‘RTL’ television channel, the German coach attributed his dismissal to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness, legends of the club and with influence in the board, which would have influenced Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic, then responsible for the sports department, to determine his end in the dugout.

"I arrived at a time when the club was in a phase of change, with Salihamidzic and Kahn at the helm of the club. I think in these circumstances the transition was perhaps too much. Both Rummenigge and Hoeness first had to swim to free themselves. But they didn't have the headroom for it," he explained.

Nagelsmann, who had arrived in the Bavarian capital from Leipzig two years earlier to replace Hansi Flick, was replaced by Thomas Tuchel when Bayern were in second place in the Bundesliga, which they went on to win and after which Salihamidzic and Kahn themselves were also sacked.

In the interview, the young coach cited Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City as examples of patience, while at Bayern, he reproached, everyone expects great success overnight.