The Bayern Munich "mole" has to be smoked out
Bayern Muenchen President Uli Hoeness enjoys a cigar beside head coach Josep Guardiola (R)
What on earth is going on in Bayern Munich these days?
While the team itself is striking and smiting everyone in sight, as Borussia Dortmund found out to their dismay last weekend, there seems to be a lot of discontent in between the sheets.
Like a newly married couple that is slowly finding out that marriage is not all that it was made out to be, Bayern seem to be rapidly coming out of the honeymoon phase to find that the ultimate footballing marriage may well have been just another celebrity marriage, with ego and pride taking precedence.
Why am I taking things to a whole other metaphorical plane, you ask me?
I’ll tell you why. And you won’t like what you’re about to hear, if you are anything like me, anyway.
You see, I grew up loving this game for all it was – good and bad parts in equal measure.
And for all the faults that are prevalent in the modern game today, I realize the sheer futility in trying to perfect something that evokes such passion the world over.
And yes, this is even taking into account the mind-numbing Sepp Blatter, who is rapidly approaching that heaven of the most trolled creatures on the planet, in becoming “literally too stupid to insult”.
Do you realize that there is not one good comeback that you can make if someone describes you in those words?
You have been warned, Mr. Blatter.
But I am prepared to look over the antics of the president of FIFA, because FIFA is just that – a body that calls itself the “governing body” of football as we know it.
In reality, no one can “govern” this game – simply because the flame is too hot to handle.
Blatter and Co. may be outright criminals for all I care. And having been brought up in a country that rewards corruption rather than punishes it, I realize that I may never find the closure that I tell myself is beyond me.
But it is a mere glitch in the transmission, because what I see in this beautiful game is so much more.
And it all comes rushing back to me every time I run onto the pitch with my mates – that excitement that has us busting our lungs out there, without a care in the world.
Passion.
Love.
Loyalty.
And it is this loyalty that has been questioned.
It all began a few days back, when I was surprised to read that Pep Guardiola wanted “the mole” in his team out.
Intrigued, and wondering which of the Bayern players had such an unappealing nickname, I read the entire piece.
“The mole” was apparently an allusion that you would normally associate with mystery novels, and not with anyone on a football pitch.
The term “traitor” is bandied about rather casually in modern football, with a number of high profile players – the likes of Mario Gotze, Robin Van Persie, Sol Campbell – all having to wear the tag over the years.
It is a whole lot simpler to me – if a player does not want to play for a club, then so be it. Sell him before the noxious gas spreads, affecting the morale of the rest of the team.
No grudges, no hatred – because desire happens to be a non-negotiable component in every player who is fortunate to play for any professional club.
Ever wonder how Ryan Giggs can still put in the kind of performance he did against Bayer Leverkusen, with players little more than half his age making their way into the team these days?
Ryan Giggs (R)
You got that right – desire.
To me, at least, the idea that there is a player in the Bayern camp who would knowingly divulge his manager’s tactics to the press – that is nothing short of treachery.
Guardiola is absolutely right in insisting that if found, the mole would never play for him again.
The whole episode left me feeling as if I had fallen out-of-step with this game that became more than just a “game” so long ago now.
I mean, am I just that naive? Disillusioned in my insistence that in a world that has seen so much wrong, in a game that has seen allegations of match-fixing and what not, it is not conceivable that a player would deliberately look to hurt his team, albeit from the shadows, in such a cowardly move?
Certainly Arjen Robben seems to think so.
The winger has insisted that this is “sad”, but that he wasn’t surprised, having been at Bayern for five years now. I’m sorry, Mr. Robben, but I would rather be naive and cocooned from such a brutal reality.
This may be an over-reaction; Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, for one, has preferred to laugh off the allegations. I hope for football’s sake that he is right.
Knowing the media’s penchant for sensationalism, “the mole” may not turn out to be a player after all. It could be anyone associated with the club, from the janitor to an eavesdropping secretary.
If that is so, then I couldn’t care less. Maybe it was someone who was having a mid-life crisis, pathetically trying to inject some excitement into a life that had just passed them by.
It wouldn’t matter – chuck them out and get on with it.
But the insinuation – and I will call it that at this point – that it was a Bayern Munich player who divulged Guardiola’s tactics, is not one my mind can comprehend.
Bayern Munich are, as we speak, the best footballing team on the planet. Their players are idolized the world over – and rightly so.
Wannabe professional footballers go to sleep with the poster of a Ribery or a Schweinsteiger hanging over their bed.
To think that men who have lived and breathed this game would resort to such a crude move is just astounding and downright degrading to this game.
Personally, I do not think the Bayern Munich team is capable of the same – these are hungry professionals who have spent their careers understanding the fine details that separate the good from the great.
If it was a player at all, it may have been a younger, fringe player. Certainly one who had an axe to grind against Guardiola.
There can be no coming back from such disgrace, and the culprit will be vilified far and wide, if he is ever smoked out.
It was no drunken mistake either – what appeared in The Bild was a detailed analysis of Guardiola’s tactics and line-up.
It almost seems like the culprit was giving a warning, a casual stir in the water to create a few ripples that would say – this is what I can do, Guardiola.
He will find that Guardiola’s retribution will be swift and direct. And as for the rest of us, well, what can I say?
There was a reason your mother told you not to play with fire, boy.