FC Bayern: Arrogant or close to the people – the club has to decide

Cheering players, human officials, silver trophies. Those who wanted to see the beautiful, perfect world of FC Bayern these days only had to watch the six-part documentary about the title hunt in recent years on “Amazon Prime”. If, on the other hand, you wanted to know what is really going on with the record champions, you had to stop by the club’s basketball hall on Thursday evening.

There was a club to look at, which the ignorance and complacency of its officials has plunged into a deep crisis. The whistles and boos from the members were only an acoustic symbol that FC Bayern was not only torn apart by internal contradictions, but also by the refusal to deal with these contradictions at all.

Philipp Köster: Cabin Sermon

Philipp Köster, born in 1972, is the founder and editor-in-chief of the soccer magazine. He collects jerseys and stadium books, knows the Romanian champions from 1984 and can recite Borussia Dortmund’s starting eleven in the 1986 relegation game against Fortuna Köln by heart: Eike Immel, Frank Pagelsdorf, Bernd Storck, … He is also the author of numerous football books, including about the history of the Bundesliga, and was named “Sports Journalist of the Year” in 2010. Above all, he is a supporter of the glorious Arminia from Bielefeld.

There is the contradiction, on the one hand, of railing against the plans for a European Super League, but at the same time not making any efforts to get the competition going again, at least in the Bundesliga. There is also the contradiction of always praising the solidarity of the Bayern family, but shrugging shoulders and playing down the ego trips of individual players on the vaccination issue.

Above all, there is the contradiction that arises from the fact that FC Bayern has been involved in the global battle for market share for many years. Fans in Asia, Africa and North America should buy jerseys and subscribe to paid channels. The people of Munich want to be a globally profitable brand, no matter what the cost. And that’s why treaties are made with authoritarian states. Motto: The English, Italians and Spaniards do it too.

The subtle difference: FC Bayern does not belong to any billionaire or unsavory state fund, but is responsible to its members. And they have long since noticed that it doesn’t go together when ethical values ​​are proclaimed at ceremonies, which are always pushed aside when lucrative business beckons again.

FC Bayern is now at a crossroads

The discussion, especially about cooperation with the emirate of Qatar, is not new. The club management could finally have dealt with the concerns and worries of the members, had an open dialogue and had confidence in the power of the arguments. Instead, a member’s request to end the Qatar sponsorship was not even ignored in advance and then floated around at the meeting in such a way that the members felt completely rightly fooled. First and foremost by club president Herbert Hainer, who sniffed arrogantly and arrogantly throughout the entire meeting, moaned and rolled his eyes as if he were still Adidas CEO and had to turn off the microphone of an unruly small shareholder. The low point of the disastrous appearance was then Hainer’s hand-stroke-like termination of the meeting, although several members still had a need to speak. No wonder hundreds of supporters were outraged.

It was a dangerous game that Bayern played on Thursday evening, precisely because the old PR strategies no longer work reliably. Uli Hoeneß, for example, used to have credit and influence with the members through authority and emotions. The fact that the now honorary president marched on stage in the midst of the uproar, but ostentatiously silent and rumbled in the exit, that it was “the worst event I have ever experienced at FC Bayern”, was just grotesque peasant theater. He shouldn’t have looked accusingly into the hall, but up to the podium, where the officials sat who had made the tumult possible in the first place.

FC Bayern is now at a crossroads. It can become like all the other big clubs that turn the global wheel: aseptic, calculated and thoroughly commercialized. Or he can think back to what made the club what it was. Namely the thought that it can make a club almost invincible when members, fans, officials and players have a common goal and common values. Such an alliance would be infinitely valuable for the club.

In contrast to the sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways, by the way.