Why does nobody want to manage Bayern Munich?

Tom Weber

Updated: 8 May 2024 13:31 CDT
5 min read

Xabi Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel, Bayern Munich — © IMAGO

Xabi Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann, Ralf Rangnick, Roberto de Zerbi, Unai Emery, Erik ten Hag, the list of managers who have rejected Bayern Munich in recent weeks is conspicuously long.

Article continues under the video

The Bayern Munich job, once the most coveted in all of German football, is now unattractive and the Bavarian giants are struggling to find a successor to the departing Thomas Tuchel, who has once again ruled out that he could stay on board after this season.

Just a decade ago, Bayern were coached by Pep Guardiola and the Spaniard was eventually succeeded by Carlo Ancelotti. Despite the infamous "FC Hollywood" moniker, the job on Säbener Straße used to be one coaches would jump at.

This, however, is no longer the case. With the season slowly but surely drawing to a conclusion and the Munich outfit still desperately scrambling to convince someone to replace Tuchel, it begs the question: why does nobody want to manage Bayern?

High standards and unavailable targets

One of the simplest reasons why Bayern are struggling to find a new coach is quite simply because of their high standards. The Bavarians demand a lot from their managers and only want someone who is proven at a high level - or at least someone who has shown that he can coach a team to play attractive football.

This, naturally, massively narrows down the possible options and makes finding the right man a huge challenge. If you are successful as a coach, chances are you are under contract somewhere.

Indeed, most of Bayern's top options in this ongoing search have been people who are already employed. Priority target Xabi Alonso has a Bayer Leverkusen contract until 2026, just like Austria boss Ralf Rangnick and Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann, all of whom have rejected the Bavarians in favour of continuing their current projects.

Roberto de Zerbi at Brighton and Unai Emery at Aston Villa, two more coaches greatly admired by club chiefs Max Eberl and Christoph Freund, are also under contract and so is Erik ten Hag, who has recently been touted as a potential option, having previously coached Bayern's reserves under Guardiola.

Though Ten Hag likely won't survive beyond this season at Man Utd, the Dutchman is fully focused on trying to save his job and won't entertain any talks right now. Bayern, however, are desperate to sort out their coaching problem before the end of the campaign.

FC Hollywood

Another reason why everyone is seemingly rejecting Bayern is the fact that the job has become unattractive. While the "FC Hollywood" nickname has been in place for three decades, things have recently been taken to a worrying new level after a brief period of relative stability.

Though the regime at Bayern is a new one, the sacking of Julian Nagelsmann by Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic last year is still fresh in the minds of coaches, not least of the man himself, which is one of the reasons why he snubbed them.

Nagelsmann, one of Europe's brightest up-and-coming tacticians, had been hired to lead the project for the next decade but was unceremoniously fired after Bayern slipped below Dortmund in the Bundesliga title race despite the fact that his side looked set to go deep in the Champions League.

The fact that Bayern were prepared to pull the trigger on Nagelsmann after less than two years in charge sent a message - and not a good one. It showed that no matter how highly regarded you are, you have next to no job security. The Tuchel situation also illustrates this.

Tuchel hasn't officially been sacked but it is clear that he has been pushed out of the club. Kicking Tuchel out is certainly not unwarranted given domestic results this season, but it is strange after backing him more than perhaps any other manager of theirs has been backed in recent seasons.

Bayern shattered their own and the Bundesliga's transfer record to sign Harry Kane for €100 million. They also spent an additional €50m on Kim Min-jae and signed one of Tuchel's favourite players in Raphael Guerreiro, one of his former Dortmund signings. To then cut ties with him six months into his first full season in charge seems another ill-judged decision.

Bayern job not attractive anymore

Due to the rise of the Premier League, the job at Bayern is no longer one of the absolute best-paid gigs in football. A promising coach can head to pretty much any Premier League side and earn about as much as they could in Munich and chances are they would be under less scrutiny too.

Bayern are under intense media pressure, but it's not only the media that likes to talk about the Bavarians. Honorary president Uli Hoeneß also feels inclined to frequently give his thoughts on current affairs and this is rarely a good thing.

His recent comments publically slamming Tuchel ahead of the crucial Champions League fixtures against Real Madrid were another PR disaster for Bayern. Why would someone like Unai Emery, Ralf Rangnick or Roberto de Zerbi, adored in their current roles, trade exciting projects for this?

The same can be said for Xabi Alonso. Bayer Leverkusen are one of the Bundesliga's most affluent sides even if they can't quite match Bayern's revenues. Alonso has been backed in the market, he is loved by everyone - even neutrals - and probably earns a competitive salary. It is unsurprising that he would rather stay at Bayer than go to Bayern.

In many ways, Bayern have been the architects of their own downfall. Ill-advised, knee-jerk decisions, constant drama and the fact that sides like Leverkusen and mid-table Premier League clubs are catching up with them all make the job in Munich an unattractive one.