Bayern looks to life after van Gaal
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Bayern Munich was casting around for a new coach on Tuesday after the German giant agreed to part company with Louis van Gaal towards the end of what, by its high standards, has been a poor season.
Those reported to be in the frame include Turkey coach and former Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink, previous Ajax, Hamburg and Tottenham boss Martin Jol and the veteran Champions League winning coach Jupp Heynckes, currently at Bayer Leverkusen.
After three defeats in a row and Champions League qualification looking increasingly unlikely, Bayern said on Monday that van Gaal would be leaving at the end of the season, one year before his contract was due to expire.
The reason, the club said in a terse statement, was "differing views on the club's strategic direction".
It stopped short of thanking the 59-year-old Dutchman for his services, scant reward given he had delivered the league and cup double last season.
He might be shown the door sooner if Bayern fail in the next few games, including against Hamburg and Freiburg in the Bundesliga and in next Tuesday's Champions League round-of-16 second-leg clash with Inter Milan, reports said.
Bayern Munich said Van Gaal had agreed that all efforts would go towards meeting certain "minimum targets".
Following successful spells at Barcelona and Ajax - where he coached a vibrant young side to the 1995 Champions League - van Gaal was recruited from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in 2009.
After a slow start, it was all smiles as van Gaal took the German giant to a 22nd league title, its 15th Cup and a Champions League final, where it lost 2-0 to a Jose Mourinho-inspired Inter Milan.
But lately a gloom has descended on the Allianz Arena.
Although it is fifth in the Bundesliga and still in the Champions League race, Bayern Munich's bosses - who held five hours of crisis talks on Sunday - are used to being the best.
In the Bundesliga it has been the young guns of Borussia Dortmund, coached by Jurgen Klopp, who have been the runaway success story, sitting pretty at the top of the table with a near-unassailable 12-point lead.
Bayern is 19 points adrift of Dortmund, with Bayer Leverkusen, Hanover and Mainz ahead of it in the table. It needs to be first or second to qualify automatically for the Champions League.
The German Cup won't be returning to Bayern, either, with Schalke having dumped it out in the semifinals last week, four days after Dortmund thrashed it 3-1, ramming home its superiority over the defending champion.
The final nail in van Gaal's coffin though was Saturday's richly deserved 3-1 drubbing at the hands of Hanover in a match described beforehand by captain Philipp Lahm as Bayern's "most important match of the whole season".
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