He is doomed to success: Vogel is under observation at FCB

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In his spare time, Heiko Vogel likes to watch “The Mountain Doctor”. Because the TV series is set in the region where he and his family have lived for years. Very close to the Tegernsee, this little idyll in the Upper Bavarian district of Miesbach. It cannot be ruled out that the 47-year-old will be there more often soon. And you have a lot of time to watch “the mountain doctor”.

Yes, Vogel is under enormous pressure. With the arrival of Timo Schultz (46), the sports director put a huge egg on himself and lost a lot of credit in the club management. When he spoke of an “absolute dream solution” and a “perfect match” in May after weeks of evaluation, three months and eleven competitive matches later, the former St. Pauli coach made a colossal mistake.

He suggested Schultz as coach, Vogel says. “And I accept this responsibility.” After just a few weeks, voices arose within the FCB management criticizing the coach for his work. He was not conscientious enough, he communicated poorly and the team was not fit. That is probably why President David Degen (40) did not speak of a knee-jerk reaction when he was asked about Schultz’s dismissal on Friday. But rather a well-considered decision that was reached after many discussions.

Vogel is technically at the top

The answer to Schultz’s successor was also carefully considered, according to Degen: “It would be fatal not to rely on Heiko Vogel. He has the experience and knows the many new players best because he brought them in in the summer. Even the ones that are still there from last season.” It goes without saying that Vogel is now condemned to success: after Schultz’s dismissal, the time for excuses is over. In an interview with the “bz” during the week, Vogel spoke about a team that could play for the title. Against the bottom team from Lausanne-Ouchy, only victory counts on Sunday. You will need result after result in the coming weeks.

Vogel has proven in the past that he can achieve this. In the autumn of 2011 he knocked the great Manchester United out of the Champions League, qualified for the round of 16 and won the double at the end of the season. This year he led the Bebbi to the semi-finals of the Conference League. The majority of the players would have liked to continue working with Vogel, and even from the past there is hardly a professional who has a bad word to say about Vogel as a coach. Years later, Thomas Müller (34) and Mats Hummels (34), the two world champions who trained under Vogel in the Bayern youth team, are still enthusiastic about his working method.

Ten years ago he read Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’ to his team (‘The point is that the pack of wolves is only as strong as the weakest wolf’), and he compared his players from last season to Manchester City, with he showed off the away match against Slovan Bratislava comes from Pep Guardiola’s tactics box (52). The man he worked with for years at Bayern Munich.

Human question marks

Vogel seems to be at the top professionally, but as a person there are question marks. He is still disappointed that he shaved his old friend and lawyer Alex Frei (44) in February after an unfortunate 1-0 defeat against GC. The dismissal of head scout Max Legath (29), who was at Bayern together with Vogel, also raised major questions. It’s no secret that Vogel is an impulsive man who often completely loses his nerve. It is also not true that he sometimes sees criticism of himself as an insult.

In his first term as FCB coach, he was fired just weeks after the double victory. Because he would have shown himself to be resistant to advice. Bernhard Heusler’s quote (59: “I want the FCB coach to shop in Freie Strasse”) is still ubiquitous in Basel today. And it means nothing more and nothing less than that Heiko Vogel was at home at Tegernsee too often during his term of office.

At a place where he will probably be found more often in the future. At least if the sporting turnaround does not work.

Source : Blick