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Bayern boss Oliver Kahn
Photo:
ANDREAS GEBERT / REUTERS
FC Bayern Munich recently circulated a picture on social media showing Oliver Kahn in conversation with Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach.
He took the opportunity because he wanted to understand the politicians' arguments a bit, said Kahn in a media round on Wednesday.
And the politician Lauterbach may have taken the opportunity in return to learn from Kahn the art of expressing oneself without the listener being able to summarize what he actually said.
Actually, this is a means of politics to say little with words.
Former Federal Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher has mastered this to perfection, and current Chancellor Olaf Scholz can do it too.
Kahn made it to a real championship after just six months as Bayern Munich's CEO.
And after all, they know something about championships at FC Bayern.
As a pro on the brink of breakout
Since July 1, Kahn has been the main person responsible on Säbener Straße, time for a first small balance sheet, which he drew up on Wednesday.
As a player he was a volcano, constantly on the brink of eruption, often beyond that. Today he says: "You can't compare the role of an active player with that of a board member", and he wants to say: The former Oliver Kahn and the current Oliver Kahn, they're not the same people anymore.
The 52-year-old was asked by journalists about numerous topics, from the Champions League reform to the pandemic and price increases at the streaming provider Dazn, but no matter what it was: Kahn weighs his words, he has understanding for one side as well as for the other side.
Oliver Kahn has become chief diplomat, who would have thought that?
He can understand that fans "do not take well" to price increases at Dazn, but he can also understand that the rights holders "have to survive somewhere".
Of course, you've "got used to the model of today's Champions League for decades," but you also have to understand that "you're thinking about how you can do it better."
The main thing: "It always has to be exciting, preferably until the end."
»Good cooperation with the State Chancellery«
What does he think of clubs like Borussia Dortmund considering legal action against the restrictive spectator restrictions in the stadiums due to the pandemic?
"You have to understand that thoughts come up, that you can no longer understand the entire logic." At FC Bayern, however, they go "a different way," says Kahn and emphasizes "the good cooperation with the authorities and the state chancellery".
Before Kahn received the power of attorney in Munich, he had Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the two who shaped the club for so long, prepare him for a year and a half, "it was absolutely right to use this time to then go into to be able to start full of knowledge«.
Kahn may have copied a lot from the two of them, but the ability for polemics, for sharpness, which the duo was always capable of, is not one of them.
Rather the realization: I don't want to do it the way the two of them did it.
Kahn has become quiet, he prefers to act in the background, that's how he sees his position.
"Nowadays you have to find someone who still wants to be in front of the camera all the time," he says.
It's a question of "how you interpret your own role," after all there are "many things in your new job that can't be done in the foreground."
Only slight regrets about Süle
The new boss at the record champions, he always gives off the feeling that a club needs to be managed rather than led.
When Niklas Süle bids farewell to Munich after five years, Kahn finds it unfortunate – “we have always shown him the respect he deserves” – but you can almost hear the shrug of the shoulders when he adds: “ We made him an offer, he didn't accept it, that's the way it is in life, sometimes you don't get together.«
Another central defender will come to Munich.
There will not be much mourning afterwards, checked off.
That's the way it is.
Sentiment is not his principle.
No longer.
He accepts the risk that he will disappoint the expectations of those who believed that the goalkeeper volcano would continue to do well at FC Bayern in the future.
The already notorious general meeting in November proved that this can not be harmless – when his extremely reserved tone on the Qatar issue brought many of the fans present to the barricades.
At one point on Wednesday, Kahn spoke about Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Kahn praised how "greedy" the keeper was on the hunt for new records and records and that he had already said to him: "Please leave me one or two records." But no chance.
It sounded like he was talking about former player Oliver Kahn.
