Five Reasons why appointing Klinsmann was a Stroke of Genius

I have to hand it to Bayern Munich for keeping this a secret until the very moment pen was set to paper. To quote Duffmann who wrote about it over at the Bundesbag blog: To say that I was surprised by the news is an understatement. <brag>That’s why it’s probably all the more impressive, that I could make up my mind about this decision so quickly.</brag>

1. Klinsmann stands for modern and attractive attacking football. Something that will go a long way to satisfy the existing fan base and win over new fans in Germany and abroad.

2. Klinsmann joined FC Bayern during the infamous FC Hollywood era (sort of Bavaria’s Galacticos) with lots of drama and relatively little success. Bayern is in danger of heading into the same direction again. A series of smaller dressing room rifts have already been surfacing this season and Klinsmann will know what to do about it.

To strengthen this argument: one of Klinsmann’s biggest disappointments during his career in the German national team was the World Cup in 1994. He believed that this team had enough individual quality to successfully defend the title, but fell apart because the team chemistry wasn’t right. So he put a lot of emphasis on team chemistry when he captained Germany to a Euro title 1996 and later when he coached Germany to a third place finish in the World Cup 2006. Both times with less individual quality than in 1994 but with a great team spirit and more success.

3. Bayern can’t really claim they have the best track record of developing young talent. Someone like Philipp Lahm honed his skills while being loaned out to Stuttgart. Roque Santa Cruz wasted his best years on Bayern’s bench before exploding onto the Premier League. Both Podolski and Schweinsteiger failed to make the next step in their development and more often showed glimpses of their talent in the national team and not for Bayern.

Klinsmann on the other hand put a lot of confidence into young players when he took over Germany in 2004. Almost half of the players, who played for Germany in the World Cup, were still eligible to play for Germany’s U21. And it paid off.

4. Klinsmann may not have any track record as a coach on club level, but he has seen almost all of Europe as a player. He played in Germany, Italy, France and England under some of the best coaches; like Arsène Wenger at AS Monaco. On top of German and English he also speaks French and Italian. Just in case Franck and Luca are a bit lazy with their German lessons. He is someone who is looking everywhere for inspiration and new ideas. He brought in American fitness coaches to the national team, who had a track record of working with baseball or American football athletes but hadn’t any experience with ‘real’ football. People were sceptical to say the least. Nowadays they still check by the national team here and then. The last time they did, they didn’t fly in from the US but from England, where they were giving a lecture to Premier League managers…

5. Jürgen Klinsmann has been more of a project manager for the German national team, with Jogi Löw being the tactical mastermind in the background. I think that Bayern’s management are perfectly aware of that. So my guess is: that’s exactly what they want. Football clubs aren’t run as a one-man show anymore anyway. Even the classic English managers, who are both sporting director and coach in one person, rely on an ever growing staff of specialists; fitness coaches, mental coaches, nutrition experts and so on. Appointing someone who resembles a project manager, whose job is to assemble and manage a team, infrastructure and environment for success is just the logical next step. Klinsmann is the exact right person for that job and will look for a second Jogi Löw to run the tactics department.

Some Related Bundesliga Posts:

Category: Bundesliga