Uli Hoeneß was a busy man at the weekend. He paid off a wager by grilling sausages at the Allianz Arena prior to the Hertha clash, and he attended the club Christmas party until the early hours. On Sunday morning, he was a guest on DSF sports TV's Doppelpass, afterwards delivering an emotionally-charged speech on behalf of the Dominik Brunner foundation at an open-air event in Munich.
In the wake of Bayern's excellent results in the run-up to the mid-season break, Hoeneß appeared in upbeat spirits during the TV appearance. In a customarily wide-ranging discourse, the FCB President discussed the situation regarding Luca Toni, and why he does not intend to respond to a media outburst from J ürgen Klinsmann.
Uli Hoeneß on…
…Bayern's improved results before the winter break: "I don't think a switch has suddenly been thrown. I think it's because there's been consistency in our line-up. The players have attacked more often, they've got to grips with Louis van Gaal's system. We had a first taste of success, and now we've won six in a row. Belief is the crucial factor. Grow in confidence, and it all suddenly happens for you. You can't understand why the same pass didn't reach its target 14 days previously. The game in Turin was the turning point. The same Juventus team beat Inter 2-1 three days earlier – and then Bayern played them off the park. Apart from their goal, they had no chances at all, but we had seven or eight. It was exhibition stuff. Now we need to beat the top teams in the Bundesliga. We've comprehensively beaten the lesser names, but we have to show we can perform at the same level against the big names.“
…his new assignment as president: "Franz Beckenbauer's connections gave him completely different options. He brought the World Cup to Germany, he' closely involved with FIFA, UEFA, the DFB. I have none of that. And I'm not going to show up every day. I’ll be there maybe once or twice a week, or more often if I'm needed. If our sponsorship people have an important meeting with Deutsche Telekom or VW, I'll obviously attend, as I want to maintain the contacts I've built up over 30 years. But we need to find the right replacements over the long term. I'm 57 now, and I'm pushing this change through, because I've seen too many mid-size companies where the succession doesn't work out, because the old guys won't let go and the young guys were too lazy. So I believe Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Karl Hopfner – who'll also step down at some point – and I have four or five years to hand Bayern on to the next generation.“
…his successor on the FCB board: "We'll have our man by 30 June. We're talking to a couple of candidates, and also considering an in-house solution. But we’re not yet ready to go public. We have the joint stock company's AGM in mid-January, which will confirm the new supervisory board. We'll get down to the details after that, because the supervisory board has to approve board appointments.“
…Christian Nerlinger: "I'm going to stay out of the way for a couple of weeks or even months. How should Christian Nerlinger grow into the role if I keep jumping in? I think the smart solution is to spend the next few weeks and months leaving him in peace and watching what happens. As a first step, I'm not attending the Dubai training camp, and I'm not going to the pre-match retreats either. I'll join the team on matchdays. It's a complete break, but it's necessary to drive the whole process forward.“
…Jürgen Klinsmann's most recent interview: "I don't understand what Jürgen's up to. Yet again, he's let his people line up a journalist who's prepared to write whatever he wants. There was no self-criticism at all in the interview. In several points, the interview is also clearly in breach of our severance agreement with him. We agreed mutual silence. But despite it all, we're not going to react. I'd urgently advise Jürgen to do the same. For us, that chapter is closed. End of story.“
…the Champions League draw: "People are apparently saying it’s going to be fairly easy. Let me state the facts: Fiorentina beat Liverpool twice, Fiorentina won their group, Fiorentina took 15 of a possible 18 points, which is near enough as good as it gets – that’s a strong team. We’ll have to be totally on our guard.“
…Luca Toni: "I don’t know what’ll happen with Luca Toni. We still have no firm offers, although we’re prepared to loan him out with no fee or let him go, because we want peace and quiet. The media will continue making a big thing out of Luca Toni for as long as he’s our player. That won’t necessarily give us the stability and calm we need. Let’s wait and see. The transfer window opens on 1 January.“
…Toni Kroos: "If it had to be answered today, I’d say he has to come back. But we’ll see what happens when the time comes. We’ll sit down with the player and Bayer Leverkusen in March or April, and then we’ll talk it through with our coach.“
…Anatoliy Tymoshchuk: "I’m fairly convinced that players coming in from the Russian league need a lot of time to settle. I’m not worried because I reckon Tymo can make it here. He’s Ukraine captain, he was with St. Petersburg, who handed us a 4-0 thrashing, he was one of their best players – and people say he’s not good enough for Bayern? I don’t believe that.“
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