Klinsmann's Bayern appointment surprised everyone

Jürgen Klinsmann will take over next season as head coach at Bayern, where he enjoyed some of his greatest success as a player. Johannes Simon/Bongarts/Getty Images

By Nick Bidwell, Special to SI.com, World Soccer

Walk into any office, shop or bar in Munich and the chances are the conversation will soon turn to one of three topics:

The spate of vicious attacks on travelers using the city's underground, the controversial smoking ban that went into effect on Jan. 1, and the sensational announcement that ex-Germany boss Jürgen Klinsmann would be replacing the disgruntled Ottmar Hitzfeld as Bayern Munich coach at the end of the season.

The news of Klinsmann's return to the club where he starred up front from 1995 to '97 caught almost everyone off guard. Even club president Franz Beckenbauer was kept in the dark as chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and general manager Uli Hoeness launched their charm offensive.

Just as surprised was the media, which had rated Klinsmann as no more than an outside bet for the job, behind Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, José Mourinho, Guus Hiddink, Marcello Lippi and Rafa Benítez.

This was understandable. Increasingly convincing reports from the U.S., where Klinsmann has been living, had him close to taking over at Liverpool, while many pointed out that he and the Bayern top brass had too much "history." (Klinsmann also walked away from negotiations with U.S. Soccer in fall '06 to become Bruce Arena's successor.)

Klinsmann certainly enjoyed much success during his playing days at Bayern, scoring a record 15 goals as the team claimed the '96 UEFA Cup and contributing another 15 in Bundesliga play the following season as it won the title. But his relationship with the board was distinctly frosty.

Hoeness described the negotiations to recruit Klinsmann from Tottenham in '95 as the most difficult of his career. Audaciously, the striker demanded a guaranteed first-team place; Hoeness refused point blank. The superstar insisted on retaining his boot contract with Reebok rather than wear the product of Bayern's long-term supplier, Adidas; Bayern resisted, then grudgingly made him an exception to the rule.

Nor was Klinsmann popular in the dressing room because of his complaints about Bayern's pedestrian style and lack of service to the front men.

Klinsmann and Bayern came into conflict again when he became Germany's head coach in the summer of '04. In his newspaper column, Beckenbauer never missed a chance to take a swipe at the Bundestrainer for continuing to reside in California, while the club reacted with disgust to his ditching of two of their favorite sons: goalkeeping coach Sepp Maier and hitherto first-choice keeper Oliver Kahn.

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