History of FC Bayern Munich - Renewed Success in The 1980s

Renewed Success in The 1980s

Lack of success saw president Neudecker on the verge of contracting Max Merkel as new coach – the team unanimously voted against him. This novel type of revolution saw Bayern dominating the television news in a culture where sports were an irregular addendum to them. The resulting resignation of the autocratic president Neudecker, arguably the father of the modern FC Bayern, was again the top news item, even on the highbrow Tagesschau news in an era without commercial television.

Hungarian Pal Csernai, who had been assistant to Cramer's replacement, Gyula Lorant, became head coach. In his tenure he revolutionised the style of Bayern by introducing the spatial defence, then in Munich referred to as Pal System. When Paul Breitner returned via Braunschweig from his years with Real Madrid he formed a partnership with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. The FC Breitnigge, reinforced with Belgian goal-keeping legend Jean-Marie Pfaff, Klaus Augenthaler and striker Dieter Hoeneß (brother of Uli), brought success back to Munich. Two championships and a cup resulted from this era. Their dreams of another European Cup were thwarted in the final of Rotterdam against Aston Villa, when for a brief moment a man named Peter Withe stepped out of obscurity and scored the decider for the team from Birmingham. This was also the first official final that Bayern had lost in its history after twelve undefeated final appearances.

The era of Csernai came to an end when success no longer seemed assured and his eccentricity endangered the image of the club with their major sponsors. Udo Lattek was appointed for a second spell at the Isar, and he did not disappoint, despite initial financial issues. For hiring Danish playmaker Søren Lerby from Ajax to replace the retiring Breitner, Bayern had pledged "the last money", so president W.O. Hoffmann.

The cup victory in the 1984 final against Mönchengladbach was won in the penalty shootout, the first in the history of this competition. The young Lothar Matthäus, whose transfer to Munich for 1.2m euros was announced just weeks before, missed the first penalty for his old team.

After Rummenigge's transfer to Inter for a world record fee of more than 5m euros restored the club's finances, the team had now lost its superstars, but the reformed squad secured one more cup, as part of a double, and five championships inside six years including the second hat-trick, leading to the tenth title allowing the club to finally overtake 1. FC Nuremberg as record holders. But it became another generation to be denied continental glory when, in the 1987 Champions Cup final of Vienna, FC Porto prevailed thanks to two goals by Madjer and Juary in the last 13 minutes. The early Bayern lead through a header by Ludwig Kögl proved not enough.

Udo Lattek decided to retire afterwards and Bayern, keen on refilling their coffers, let go of quite a few players.

The new coach, Jupp Heynckes, already at his former post in Mönchengladbach successor of Lattek, started with a title-free season, after which Matthäus and Andreas Brehme went to Inter from where a generous reimbursement was received. Also Pfaff and three more players left. As Olaf Thon and Stefan Reuter were the most prominent newcomers, hopes were not high, but in the next couple of years two more championships were won. Augenthaler's retirement and the sale of Jürgen Kohler and Stefan Reuter to Juventus badly depleted the squad. Two seasons without any trophies followed, and cost Heynckes his job.

Søren Lerby rejoined the club as manager, unfortunately his tenure proved to be an absolute disaster as weak signings and ineffective tactics left Bayern facing an unthinkable relegation by the time Lerby was sacked in early 1992. Making matters worse B 1903 Copenhagen ousted Bayern from the UEFA Cup with ease with 6–2 / 0–1. Erich Ribbeck took over as coach, working with Franz Beckenbauer as director of sport, and managed to steer the club to safety.

The club was not keen on repeating the disaster of 1991–92, and in the next season Bayern spent 12m euros on the new players. Thomas Helmer (4m), Brazil's captain Jorginho (2.8m) and Lothar Matthäus (2m) topped the bill of a list that also included Mehmet Scholl. Calming the nerves of the thrifty president Dr. Fritz Scherer, economics professor at Munich University, was the sale of Stefan Effenberg and Brian Laudrup for 8.5m euros to Fiorentina. The rebuilt side came close to winning the title, but just missed out. Ribbeck's tactics (which were felt to be overly negative) were blamed for this, and when the following season looked to be going no differently, Beckenbauer dismissed Ribbeck and took control of the team himself. An immediate upturn in form saw Bayern take that year's title.

Kaiser Franz's status as a club legend was reinforced, and a few years later he became president, with Giovanni Trapattoni being hired as the first Italian coach in the Bundesliga. "Trap" gained the respect of the pundits, but problems (supposedly caused by Trappatoni having a poor grasp of German) saw the team in disarray. After a sixth place finish, Trappatoni returned to Italy, and Otto Rehhagel was appointed manager, with the hope that he could bring the success he had earned with Werder Bremen to a team that was by then often referred to as FC Hollywood. As the team continued to have more impact on the social pages of the tabloids than on the pitch "King Otto's" tenure was cut short due to disagreements with the board, and Beckenbauer steered the club to victory in the finals of the 1996 UEFA Cup against Girondins from Bordeaux. Zidane, Dugarry, Lizarazu and Holland's Witschge are outclassed 2–0 and even 3–1 away. Jürgen Klinsmann scored a record breaking 15 goals in this European campaign that led Bayern to their first continental trophy in 20 years, after eliminating, amongst others Benfica, Nottingham Forest and FC Barcelona.

Giovanni Trapattoni returned as coach – now with a fluent grasp of German – and rewarded the renewed trust with an immediate championship, followed by League runner-up and a cup win the next season, after which he once more returned to Italy.