The link was obvious — a Champions League-winning coach joining a club that wanted to dominate the Champions League. A big name for a big name, a real modern football affair.
Thomas Tuchel was unveiled by Bayern Munich in March 2023, charged with a mission that he will find being repeated by the FA, now that Mark Bullingham, the chief executive with stars in his eyes, seems set to get his wish: win.
Something about it, however, felt forced. Tuchel arrived in Bavaria nursing a broken heart as the pain of his sacking from Chelsea gnawed away.
‘I loved this job,’ he told Mail Sport at Bayern’s Sabener Strasse enclave, reflecting on the three-minute meeting with Todd Boehly that led to him being jettisoned. ‘I have a passion for it, I can tell you. How long did it take me to get over it? It still hurts in a way.’
Bayern, meanwhile, had slithered into unfamiliar territory as the juggernaut that had run all over the Bundesliga suddenly found its gears sticking.
German rivalries are different to England’s tribalism — clubs sell merchandise in pop up shops outside rival stadiums when they play away and supporters often mix without issue. But many Bayern fans struggled with Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund past.
That explained why, in his first game in charge, Tuchel took his place on the bench without acknowledgement from any corner of the Allianz Arena. It was clear this was going to be a marriage of convenience, not the start of a beautiful romance.
Tuchel might have overseen a 4-2 win over Dortmund on April 1, but those chaotic 90 minutes illustrated the problems he had inherited and the challenges that needed to be addressed. A chat with Joshua Kimmich afterwards confirmed as much.
‘He brought an “old” new system,’ he told Mail Sport. ‘We played 4-3-3, not 4-2-3-1. We needed positive energy. We pressed deeper, there were lots of good situations where we won the ball and created good chances. A good start, with lots of good points, but there are lots we have to improve.’
This was a discussion that showed why assuming anything in sport is foolish. Surely Bayern were going to be fine from here, having pummelled their old foes? Not a bit of it.
By April 10, they had been knocked out of the German Cup by Freiburg and obliterated by Manchester City in Europe.
Yes, Tuchel got Bayern over the line, but winning the Bundesliga on the final day of the season, thanks to a last-gasp 2-1 win in Cologne, owed just as much to Dortmund suffering stage fright when drawing 2-2 with Mainz.
The acid test was always going to be the second season, after getting some new players in — the £100million addition of Harry Kane was supposed to provide the magic that would enable Bayern to get back to top speed. But as a man who can fizz and pop as quickly as a Bonfire Night rocket, Tuchel’s energy in the Bayern dressing room — one which houses so many big and forthright characters — had the potential to be highly flammable.
To say he lost the dressing room would not be fair. For much of the time, those familiar with the situation say Tuchel was good with the players and there was nothing out of kilter with what you would find at any other club — those who play like the coach, those who don’t, don’t.
Tuchel had assembled an outstanding backroom staff, including Anthony Barry, the innovative young English coach whose reputation is outstanding. Tuchel adored him from the first moment he met him at Stamford Bridge. He will want him by his side with England.
Barry currently works as Roberto Martinez’s assistant with Portugal. He specialises in set-pieces and looks obsessively at every aspect. The thesis he wrote for his pro-licence qualification was about the 16,380 throw-ins during the 2018-19 Premier League season to see how they impacted games.
With Kane’s goals, some of the best facilities in the world and a trusted staff, everything was set up for Tuchel to take Bayern back to the summit of German football, but the curiosity of this story was that nothing really changed in terms of the quality of performances.
Look at how players improve under Pep Guardiola. You can tell within three months of watching a new signing at Manchester City what impact the manager has had on them. Look, too, at how Carlo Ancelotti is helping elevate Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid.
There was none of this at Bayern with Tuchel. Some early results were outstanding — 8-0 against Darmstadt, 7-0 against Bochum and a 4-0 skewering of Dortmund. But December 9 blew a hole in the dam as Eintracht Frankfurt thrashed them 5-1.
From then on, things started to fray. Tuchel’s press conferences have always been something you would want to attend for their searing honesty and the colourful way he talks, but his words created headlines and put him at odds with the club.
When Bayern went to Leverkusen in February, the fray in the campaign became a fracture and a 3-0 defeat to the team that would replace them as champions signalled the beginning of the end. The team who always won the league eventually finished third.