RUMMENIGGE ENDS ANCELOTTI’S REIGN AT BAYERN
The handwriting was on the wall from pre-season. Two nil nil draws against Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim, 4-0 loss to AC Milan, 0-2 loss to Inter Milan, 3-0 to Liverpool, 2-0 loss to Napoli and Super cup final loss to Dortmund. And when Hoffenheim beat them 2-0 on match day 3 of the Bundesliga, you knew it was just a matter of time before Bayern said goodbye to Ancelotti. And 3-0 to PSG? It would have been too much for the demanding board at Bayern, so no wonder they pulled the trigger to end his stint with them.
“The performance of our team since the start of the season did not meet the expectations we put to them,” said Bayern’s chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
“I would like to thank Carlo for his cooperation. Carlo is my friend and will remain my friend, but we had to make a professional decision. The game in Paris clearly showed that we had to draw consequences.”
Ancelotti has won the league in four different countries and the joint most successful manager in European cup history, but at Bayern, if you don’t win the champions league – we have seen with the best managers, even Pep Guardiola – the ruthless board consisting of ex-players who have won the European cup and World Cup would eventually ask you to leave the hot seat or push you off the cliff.
There was a time when clubs were patient with their managers and they had time to turn things around, but today the factors are different: commercial revenue, the press, player power and social media are all contributing factors that mean managers don’t last long before they are given the boot in today’s world.
With world class players from all over the world and the best players in Germany at their disposal, Bayern wouldn’t settle for second best. The 3-0 loss against emerging PSG sent a clear message to the board; ‘we are going into a decline and no longer among the best in Europe’ They had to act, and unfortunately its Ancelotti this time around.
I wish Carlo ‘gentleman’ Ancelotti all the best of luck in future and hopefully, Bayern would get it right going forward as the next few years is very important for the German giants.