Undeliverable Promises?
October 7, 2008
Despite fans carrying banners reading "Ami go home" in reference to Klinsmann's recent move from California to Bavaria, Bayern Munich Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said the former Germany coach would be at Bayern until -- at least -- the end of the season.
"We are convinced by Juergen and his philosophy," he told the mass-market Bild on Tuesday, Oct. 7. "He is the right coach for us. He is doing everything right in general, only the results are not the right ones."
Still, criticism and calls for Klinsmann's head been mounting in Bavaria and beyond as the defending league champions currently languishing in 11th place after lackluster Bundesliga performances. With just two wins in seven chances, the team is off to its worst season start in 31 years and seven points behind frontrunners Hamburg.
Squandered opportunities
Bayern threw away a 3-1 lead in the final six minutes on Saturday in a 3-3 draw with VfL Bochum which prompted angry reactions from the fans. Doubts have also been raised over Klinsmann's rotation schemes as well as his benching of captain Mark van Bommel in recent games.
The German press, much of which seems pleased at the chance to watch perennial favorites Bayern struggle, have heaped criticism upon Bayern in general and Klinsmann in particular.
"There doesn't seem to be a clear line at Bayern -- it's more of a zigzag course," Kicker sports magazine wrote. The daily Tagesspiegl was more even more direct, "Klinsmann doesn't actually have any time left, because every week he's losing points and no one can see what he wants."
Even Bayern stalwart and German soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer has expressed thinly veiled doubts about Klinsi's coaching style, which has reportedly included adding Buddha statues to the locker room and
"The myth that in the end Bayern (almost) always win has taken a break," German soccer's Kaiser wrote in his Bild column. "The league senses that we are vulnerable at the moment.
Rummenigge: fans should toughen up
But it's in the face of vulnerability that Munich's supporters have to show they're more than fair-weather fans, chairman Rummenigge has said.
"Bayern -- including their fans -- must prove this season whether they are only stable in the case of success or whether we have the patience and the trust to embark on a new path," said Rummenigge.
Klinsmann, seen by some as overly optimistic, said the team is still within reach of all its goals.
Though their performances have been less than awe-inspiring, Bayern lead their group in the Champions League, are in the next round of the German Cup and while struggling in the German league still have time to turn themselves around.
Klinsmann promised the Bild that there would be celebrations in Munich at the end of the season.
"I am a fighter and an optimist," the 44-year-old said. "There are always difficult stages, but in the end there were always celebrations and satisfaction. It will be the same this time around."