The emotional exit of Oliver Kahn overshadows FC Bayern’s title win. Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeneß now comments on the background to the separation.

Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeneß has described it in retrospect as a mistake that Oliver Kahn was the board boss of the record football champion. “In retrospect, you have to say it like that,” Hoeneß told the “Kicker” on Monday. Kahn was admittedly a highly intelligent man and the exchange with the former national goalkeeper had been fun. “The big disappointment is that I thought he could fill the office qua his personality alone, but instead he surrounded himself with his advisers,” Hoeneß criticised.

After winning their eleventh championship in a row, Munich had parted company with CEO Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic on Saturday. While Salihamidzic’s release was by mutual agreement, Kahn’s separation was not. Hoeneß described the conversation with the 53-year-old as “not a pleasant one” and thus supported the version of events already presented by President Herbert Hainer.

During the conversation, Kahn had verbally attacked his successor Jan-Christian Dreesen. For this reason, he was advised not to travel to Cologne in order to avoid further escalation, said Hoeneß and criticised Kahn’s advisers. They had created a “catastrophically bad atmosphere” in the background. The image of FC Bayern had suffered, Südkurve and the powerful Ultra association Schickeria had approached the club with the demand that things could not go on like this.

Despite all the fuss, however, Hoeneß wants to part on good terms with Kahn. “I have great respect for the person, as a player he has achieved a lot. Even if he didn’t meet expectations as CEO, my door is always open for Oliver.” After the first emotional tweets, Kahn, too, had adopted a conciliatory tone and announced clarifying talks with the club’s management.