Tuchel on visit from Hoeneß: "It just shows that he cares."
Among other things, FC Bayern München trainer Thomas Tuchel discussed the famously captured conversation between himself and Bayern honorary President Uli Hoeneß on the FCB training pitch this week during his Friday pre-match presser.
Uli Hoeneß - by all accounts in semi-retirement at this phase of his life - still hangs around the club he's devoted much of his life to. Like many other German footballing scions, one cannot keep Hoeneß away from his club no matter how far advanced in years he gets. Cameras captured Hoeneß having a conversation with newly installed FCB trainer Thomas Tuchel this week. Reporters at Tuchel's Friday presser naturally wished to know what the two men talked about.
"Uli wanted to give his opinion on the [Mainz] game," Tuchel explained on Friday "When two emotionally driven people talk, it gets emotional. He actually wanted to let me know which players were truly playing this past weekend. I was basically in agreement. He also wanted to say hello. I was prepared for that."
It was such that Tuchel played down the wild hand gesticulations that cameras caught Hoeneß making. Tuchel also noted that he and Hoeneß had engaged in off-camera discussions, emphasizing that communication between the two was essentially a normal part of his job at his new station. The 49-year-old then insisted that the press corps needn't interpret the meeting as some sort of clash.
"When he's in the building, he comes by and says hello," Tuchel said of life at Säbener Straße, "We chat for fifteen minutes and exchange ideas. Because of course he cares about the club, it's his club. He wants to have information and offer his opinion. That's clear, he's opinionated. I would be ill-advised not to listen."
"I know how you can interpret it," Tuchel continued, "[You probably think] 'Oh, now Uli Hoeneß is coming and there's additional pressure.' I think it's the other way around. It just shows that he cares, that it touches him, that he wants to pitch in. If it's a sign, then it's more of a positive sign, because his messages are positive. There is no added pressure, on the contrary. He knows that there is strength in calm."