German satirical publication claims Bayern sack Hoeneß as part of coaching search
In actual accredited German newspapers, Hoeneß has been taking an absolute beating on the editorial pages since the announcement that the man Hoeneß called Bayern's "third-choice" coaching candidate also turned the club down.
| Uli Hoeness. | Photo: Sven Mandel / CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
The reaction to Austrian national team trainer Ralf Rangnick's rejection of the FC Bayern München head-coaching position in German editorial pages has not been kind to the German record champions. Germany's main sporting tabloid ("Sport Bild") was not alone in calling Rangnick's refusal an "embarrassment" for the mighty German giants. Bavaria's "Süddeutsche Zeitung", the Hessen-based FAZ, and even Hamburg's high-brow and wonkish "die Zeit" utilized similar language.
The satirical arm of German national daily "die Welt" openly mocked honorary club President Uli Hoeneß; the man whose quote about Rangnick being the club's "third choice" made the front page of the tabloids this week was widely seen as a sign that Bayern must find a way of forcing the 72-year-old into some sort of muzzled permanent retirement. The paper's satirical section "Glasauge" claims that Bayern board-member-for-sport Max Eberl opted to terminate Hoeneß as part of the club's ongoing search for a coach.
"Glasauge" has been having more than its fair share of fun with Bayern in recent weeks, publishing articles with the headlines "Bayern warn of perils of Leverkusen's dominance in the league", "Bayern opt to retain Tuchel and fire entire team", and "Bayern close men's football program in order to concentrate on Basketball team." The latest piece contains fictional quotes from newly installed Bayern board-member-for-sport Max Eberl.
""It's not the first time at FC Bayern that important people have been sacked so as not to jeopardize the achievement of the season's goals," Eberl is quoted as saying in the piece, "which is why we have to act urgently now in order to be successful in the Champions League and find someone stupid to stand on the sidelines next season. We can't afford to let Uli alienate other candidates with stupid comments."
The article goes on to suggest that retiring Dortmund boss Hans-Joachim Watzke is a candidate for Bayern's honorary President position. Bayern are also said to making assurances to Hoeneß that he "will desperately be re-approached in about a year's time" just like Julian Nagelsmann.