Heynckes' golden Bayern ticket
June 1, 2013
Jupp Heynckes has said ever since January, after Bayern Munich announced that their coach would be retiring from football, that he won't say a word on his future until the season's over. He said this week that if he's in "a good mood," he might spill the beans directly after Saturday's German Cup final. The 68-year-old has kept his promise, but it's not stopped anyone else from speculating. Heynckes could lead Bayern to an unprecedented treble - no German side has won the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Champions League in a single season - on Saturday evening, and the Bavarians are apparently keen to keep hold of him in some backroom role.
"I told [Heynckes] two weeks ago when we celebrated the league title that he has a kind of 'carte blanche' with us," Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told "Bild" newspaper. "If he can envisage it, then we'd love to keep him at Bayern in one role or another."
Ex-Barcelona tactician Josep Guardiola will replace Heynckes as head coach next season, a move that was made public in January.
Though Heynckes responded badly to Bayern announcing his retirement for him, saying he'd make such a decision by himself, a renewed retirement was long considered the most likely scenario.
A Real possibility?
This week, however, Bayern midfielder Anatoly Tymoshchuk said he was "99-percent" certain that Heynckes would return to Real Madrid, where he won the Champions League in 1998. German World Cup winner and TV pundit Günter Netzer, who played alongside Jupp Heynckes with Borussia Mönchengadbach and Germany, has a similar hunch.
"Until recently, I was completely convinced that Bayern would be his last post. But now Real Madrid has come up. Madrid is electrifying for him," Netzer told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" on Saturday.
Real Madrid currently lack a coach, Portuguese tactician Jose Mourinho is almost certain to return to London club Chelsea next season.
Bayern Munich face Stuttgart in the German Cup final at Berlin's Olympiastadion, and are considered runaway favorites to win the trophy for the 16th time. Stuttgart lifted the cup for the third time in 1997; since that last triumph, Bayern have won the competition on seven occasions.
msh/kms (dpa, SID)