Bayern Munich’s decision to part ways with their coach Thomas Tuchel is a rather bizarre form of managerial sacking. Tuchel is leaving the job but will be allowed to stay in charge until the end of the season. This can only make a team that is in free fall more unstable.

In a statement on the club’s website, Jan-Christian Dreesen, the Bayern chief executive, said:

‘In an open, good conversation we came to the decision to mutually end our collaboration in the summer.’

This is the same Dreesen who told reporters hours earlier that Tuchel would not be dismissed anytime soon. Tuchel was singing the same tune about an end to collaboration, but promising to do everything he can ‘to ensure maximum success’.

It’s difficult to see how this can work. The players know Tuchel is leaving at the end of the season. It’s hardly an incentive to perform.

Bayern are the latest elite club to be infected with a form of managerial madness. Coaches must succeed immediately and keep on doing so forever. Any dip in form is lethal, meaning that a manager is just a few bad games away from the chop.

Tuchel, the former Chelsea boss, only joined Bayern in March last year and led them to the Bundesliga title. You would be wrong to think that counts for anything. All that matters is the here and now, and the writing has been on the wall for Tuchel for some time. It was always a question of when, not if, he would be removed from the top job. Bayern have struggled for form all season and are currently on a three-game winless streak. They recently lost 3-0 to league leaders Bayer Leverkusen – the hurt of defeat was made worse by the fact that Leverkusen are managed by a potential contender for the Bayern job, Xabi Alonso. The team then lost 1-0 to Lazio in the round of 16 of the Champions League. Bayern currently sit eight points behind Leverkusen and could end the season without a trophy for the first time since 2011-12 season.

What’s gone wrong then, and who is to blame? Is Tuchel at fault or is it the elite players? There are rumours that the dressing room is divided over the manager. The German newspaper Bild claims that that the team are split down the middle. Six players, including Bayern talisman Thomas Muller, fall into the anti-Tuchel camp. A number of others, including the England captain Harry Kane, are reportedly more in sympathy with Tuchel. More claims and counterclaims are bound to emerge in the coming days. It is hard not to feel a smidgen of sympathy for Kane though, who left Spurs to win trophies. Bayern, who routinely win the German league, were deemed a sure bet. Yet Kane could once again end the season without a medal or trophy. Tuchel was one of those who pushed for Bayern to sign Kane, and there must now be a question mark over his long-term future in Germany. A potential return to the Premier League cannot be ruled out.

Bayern are developing a bit of a reputation as a hire-and-fire outfit

Who gets the Bayern job when Tuchel does finally depart in the summer? Xabi Alonso is apparently the favourite. Leverkusen remain unbeaten in the German top-flight this season. Alonso also has history with Bayern, having played for the club between 2014-2017, winning three league titles. Alonso is football’s hottest managerial property right now and every elite club seems to want him as manager. He is reportedly in the sights of Liverpool, who lose manager Jurgen Klopp at the end of the season. Perhaps Alonso will opt for Liverpool in the end? Another rumour is that Klopp might be targeted for the Bayern job.

The problem is that Bayern are developing a bit of a reputation as a hire-and-fire outfit. Tuchel is their sixth manager since 2016. His immediate predecessor Julian Nagelsmann was sacked while he was on a skiing holiday. Bayern are not alone when it comes to being quick to dispense with their managers at the first sign of difficulties. Chelsea sacked Tuchel in September 2022, deciding to replace him with Graham Potter of Brighton. That didn’t go too well and Potter was eventually sacked after a string of poor results. Chelsea’s current manager, Mauricio Pochettino, is struggling to get a consistent tune out of the team and rumours continue to circulate that his job might well be on the line. It is hard to see how Chelsea’s decision to dispense with Tuchel has done them much good in the long run.

The same managerial panic is evident at West Ham, where David Moyes is under growing pressure after an eight-match winless run. Yet only last season Moyes won the Europa Conference League with West Ham, and it hardly seems fair to question him so soon. Why would anyone else necessarily do any better than Moyes? The Tuchel sacking is just the latest example of an elite club panicking rather than sticking by the manager and thinking of the long-term. It leaves Bayern Munich looking like a club in disarray and without a real plan. Any manager would surely think twice before signing on the dotted line.