BERLIN – Bayern Munich had no alternative but to fire chief executive officer Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic, former president Uli Hoeness said in an interview published on Friday.

The 71-year-old explained that the club needed to take action, with news of the sacking becoming known moments after Bayern won their 11th straight Bundesliga title.

“The overall development was simply too unsatisfactory,” he told newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, referring to the club’s poor second half of the season.

Nine points ahead of Borussia Dortmund at Christmas, Bayern entered the final round of the season two points behind.

Their 2-1 win over Cologne in the last match of the campaign, along with Dortmund’s 2-2 draw against Mainz, meant they won the title on goal difference.

Bayern sacked Kahn and Salihamidzic on May 25, but did not tell the players or make the news public until just after the full-time whistle two days later.

Captain Thomas Muller found out in a post-match interview, after putting on a T-shirt commemorating the win.

Hoeness, who played for Bayern before running the club in various capacities for decades, revealed “nobody” at the club was consulted about the decision to fire coach Julian Nagelsmann in March.

“Even Herbert Hainer (Bayern president) was informed far too late...

“And something like that simply doesn’t work.”

While saying that Salihamidzic “remained a good sporting director”, Hoeness said former goalkeeper Kahn had not done enough work in the sporting department.

“Oliver had defined his role for himself in such a way that he largely stayed out of sports. Yet sport is the main task. Our product is football,” the 1974 World Cup winner added.

Meanwhile, West Ham United’s players have an opportunity to forever write their names in the club’s history books by beating Fiorentina in next Wednesday’s Europa Conference League final, manager David Moyes said on Friday.

The Premier League team are in a European club competition final for the first time in almost half a century, and will face the Italian Serie A side in Prague.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever get a statue (if West Ham win)... but I do believe that the players have got a good opportunity to be remembered by everybody at this club,” said Moyes.

“There is a new generation of young supporters developing in the east end of London. If we can give those young supporters the belief that this club can reach finals and win finals, then I think it will be nothing but positive.

“I believe the players we’ve got give ourselves a really good chance of doing so.”

West Ham have performed well in Europe in the last two seasons, reaching the Europa League semi-finals in 2022 when they lost to eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt, with Moyes saying the London club would put what they learnt from last season to good use.

He said: “I don’t think we’re necessarily doing anything different because this is the first one we’ve done, but I do feel that our experience in the semi-final last year will give us an indication of what to expect.” AFP, REUTERS