Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund CEO takes some nasty shots at Thomas Tuchel as manager leaves
Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund CEO takes some nasty shots at Thomas Tuchel as manager leaves

Published May. 30, 2017 1:17 p.m. ET

Thomas Tuchel is no longer the Borussia Dortmund manager. He and the club agreed to part ways after a rocky two seasons that saw neither side really get what they wanted out of the relationship, but apparently BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke couldn't just let things go. He had to take some shots at Tuchel on the way out.

BVB had two successful years with Thomas Tuchel, in which the sporting objectives were met. However, we - Michael Zorc as sporting director and myself - and the coaching staff had also worn each other down during this time. In fulfilling our managerial responsibility -- and Dortmund are in this way no different than any other club or business -- it's not only about results. It's also always about basic values like trust, respect, ability to work in a team and communicate, authenticity and identification. It's about reliability and loyalty.


It's obviously easy to fire someone when they don't win and, while Tuchel did not struggle to win matches at BVB, he did not challenge for a Bundesliga title or go to deep in the Champions League. It would have been easy for Watzke to say that the results weren't there under Tuchel. Or, and this would have been the easy way out -- he could have just thanked Tuchel and said they needed to go in another direction.

Some people will say that the fans deserve the truth and honesty, especially at a club like Dortmund where the fans are so integral to their being. And that's true. Nobody wants the fans to be lied to and transparency is usually a very good policy. But sometimes less is more and you don't need to trash someone.

Watzke didn't point to results or even something else normal in the sport. He went after "trust, respect, ability to work in a team and communicate, authenticity and identification." Then, on top of that, he added "reliability and loyalty." He didn't say that Tuchel was a bad person, but he listed a lot of things that make someone a bad person, to go along with a bad manager.

Was that really necessary? Absolutely not.

Waztke is just out here taking shots. And, yes the two did have a rocky relationship, but chill. We'll see if Tuchel responds or if he just stays quiet and moves on to his next job. It's not as if he'll be short of choices for a new gig, seeing as he is a good manager, regardless of the low blows Waztke throws his way.

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