RIP to the Kaiser. Our very best German player. Not a FC Bayern fan but going to the game this evening to honour him in the Südkurve. He did so much for the sport in general. So to prepare myself I translated some quotes of his and share it with you (since I_ve been a lurker and there is some knowledge here). There may be some translations mistakes in it, so apologise for that. It's quite long but I do hope its still entertaining read.
His playing days:
“We have collected old paper and iron to earn a few cents. The price of a leathered ball at that time. When we finally had that ball we played football everyday. Each evening someone else was allowed to take the ball home. But he also had to grease it.”
about growing up in Munich workers quarter Giesing
“That evening I didn’t care if it’s been a goal or not. I was so tired after Bobby Charlton hunted me up and down the pitch for 120 minutes.”
(in his ARD documentary about the Wembley goal)
“When I played we ate Schweinshaxn (meat) before the game and won. Today you win titles eating cerreals.”
(about the change of football in terms of professionalism)
“Johan was the better player, but I am a World-Cup-Winner.”
“We trained like Neanderthals. When the pitch was wet, the ball weighed 5 kilograms, after a header you were unconscious.”
“Back in the days I had a nice life in America. Until Günter Netzer came and destroyed everything.”
(Netzer brought Beckenbauer from NY Cosmos to Hamburger SV.)
“It wasn’t the hand of god. It was a slap in the face by a 1860 defender.”
(Beckenbauer on the famous Watschn during a youth game and the reason to join FC Bayern instead of his favorite club and to this date biggest rival (sry Dortmund) TSV 1860 - both located in Giesing a quarter of Munich)
As a manager:
“I had some arguments with Lothar Matthäus. At the end I always got my will. Thank god! The success speaks for itself.”
“I’m still not sure what kind of sport my team has done today. Football it was certainly not.” (after a defeat of Bayern)
“You blind guys, you’re like Sunday league kickers. You are the greatest morons of the world.”
(after winning 1-0 vs CSSR at World Cup 1990 and playing bad and almost loosing against 10 men the Kaiser destroyed the whole locker room in anger because they only did one and one dribblings and loosing the ball instead of playing passes and let the CSSR run ang get tired)
“Everyone of these guys is a good footballer. The thing is: They cannot play football.”
As Bayern president:
“You can loose any game, the question is how you loose it. Today was a debacle. The way we played , just watching, without body contact has nothing to do with football. It’s another sport. That’s Uwe-Seeler’s-legends-team like football. The football of old men. I’m sorry to say that but it is like this. You need to change your game completely. I mean this is not Barcelona or Real Madrid. It is Olympique Lyon, a good team but not the best and they played us off the park and we looked like school boys. You need to accept duels, challenges and dribblings. If you don’t we are always going to be Runner-ups. If you don’t change the attitude we all need to search for another job. This is probably smarter. Because what you did has nothing to do with football. So think about that and change your attitude as fast as possible. If someone needs a lesson 1-on-1 come to me, Im going to tell him even more.” He then thanked the catering team and French police and concluded: “Except for the game it was a nice trip.”
Famous Wut-Rede (speech in anger) at dinner completely spontaneously that sparked the CL-Win in 2001 after loosing 3:0 against Olympique Lyon away
“Mario Basler is one of these these unteachables. I said to him: Mario, change your lifestyle or you’re throwing away three years of your career. Now for sure we are not going to make any effort to resign him .” (to the newspaper about Basler and the possibility of a new contract)
“The best thing about the first half is that Mario Basler hasn’t freezed to death.”
(after watching Bayern playing a game in winter)
“There has to be a terrorist somewhere out there that can blow away the Olympic Stadium for us.”
(during the discussion for a football stadium (Allianz Arena nowadays) in Munich)
“I certainly didn’t want to be in your skin right now. Now just go to the Wiesn (Oktoberfest) and drink af few Mass beers.”
(to Jürgen Klinsmann after a 2:5 thrashing at home against Werder)
“Van Gaal is an expert, a teacher of football. So he is exactly the opposite of Jürgen Klinsmann.”
(after sacking Jürgen Klinsmann as a Bayern Coach.)
“Just imagine if he’d wear real football boots.”
(about Franck Ribery playing in pink boots)
“Otto Rehhagel is a first class coach for the second division.” (after sacking Rehhagel and stepping in as interim head coach (he also was president of FC Bayern too), he won the UEFA Cup later the same season)
“Between the volunteers they picked so many beautiful girls. Sometimes I had to go in and out the stadiums several times just to see them.” (during the World Cup 2006)
“Kahn should retire at Bayern. Where shall he go at 35, this old sod?” (about Kahn, I think during contract negotiations)
As an analyst:
“Ja mei (Bavarian for “Well”), this Dante. He only has to stop the ball. As a Brasilian! If he’d coming from the North Pole or Iceland, I would say: Well - he’s still wearing his skiing boots. But like this: terrible.” (at half time of Champions League Quarter Finals vs Porto 2015, Dante was supposedly left in tears after hearing this afterwards)
“This was lame Rumpel-Fußball (football without any skill, talent, tactics and fight). At times it was like abusing the ball. Maybe this event with the German team was just the B-European Championship. The A-European-Championship starts now that we are out. Anyway - there we only would have been a disturbance to others.”
(an angry Kaiser after watching the German National Team “compete” at the EUROs 2000)
“In my times you said: A bunch of headless chicken would have been more in order than this Bayern defense.”
(his judgement about Bayern Munich against Juventus in March 2016)
„Do you know for what I felt sorry for the most? - The ball.”
(Analyzing a game of the German national team.)
“There were so many games that shouldn’t have played inside the stadium but at the sand pitch next door.”
(about the level of play at the World Cup 98)
“I’m looking forward to the match tomorrow. The Three Lions can’t defend and the Portuguese defend even worse.”
(ahead of the EC Quarter Finals 2004 England vs Portugal)
“The only thing that was moving during the first half has been the wind.“
(after watching the German national team against Cameroon during the World Cup 2002)
“A man that can hit a fly sitting on the bar from 30 yards out misses the goal from 11 yards.”
(About David Beckham missing a penalty at the EUROs 2004)
“Women have become more beautiful and more agile, it looks very nice.”
(about progress of the Female National Team)
“The trouble of today’s footballers is they have too many distractions. We used to get our old players coming to watch training with old football magazines in their hands. Now, more often than not, they are checking the share prizes.”
About himself:
"Once I tracked the bloodlines of the Beckenbauers. They are coming from Franconia. They were funny families, all illegimate (bastard) children. We stayed that way.”
“It’s not that big of a crime. Our dear god is happy about any child.” (after the birth of his 2nd illegimate son, result of an affair at a FC Bayern Christmas Party)
“I’m a little bit proud, because I had a little part in it. As player, coach, president and whatever I have been.” (about the development of Bayern Munich)
“Hey Rodolfo, I’m from the other faculty.”
(about advances of the gay dancer Rudolf Nurejew, his neighbour in New York who was at Metropolitan that time)
“I’d describe myself as a part time worker.”
(after being asked whats his profession)
“I’m a trained insurance business man. Imagine I’d still be working at the company, Allianz would be the biggest company in the world.”
Wisdoms
“Success is like a shy deer. The Wind has to be right, the scent too, stars and moon as well.”
“There is only one possibility: win, draw or loose.”
“I’m hearing so often that football is like a drug. That’s nonsense. Football is passion, a passion. I’m not addicted to football. But: I love football.”
“Im just doing football for 33 years now because I cannot do anything else. When I read Schopenhauer for example: I don’t understand him."
“Football is and remains a game. Most people lose sight on that.”
“We didn’t invent the magic on the pitch and the beautiful style of play. The Germans need to work to be successful.”
“Possession means nothing when the opponent takes its chances.”
About other players:
“When I saw him the first time, I’ve said: That’s not a footballer, it’s an artist, a dancer. He was the genius of his time. The best footballer of the world during the 1970s and 1980s.
About Diego Maradona
“We should not compare humans to god. But Messi is a godly player.”
“Messi is a genius. He has everything. When I watch him, I see a player who is very, very skillful, very clever and his left foot is like Diego Maradona’s.”
"Messi is the best player in the world and of his time. However, the best ever is Pelé. He is just ahead of Messi. I’ve never seen a player like Pelé. I played with him at New York Cosmos and you would give him the ball and just not see him again because he was too fast. Pelé was all instinct."
“George Best was one of the most talented players of all time and probably the best footballer who never made it to a major world final.”
“Sir Alex told me, ‘Franz, you cannot imagine a harder-working player than Ronaldo. Whether it’s before training, or afterward – day in and day out, he is working hard. When talent, willpower, and hard work come together, that’s when you get world-class.'” about Cristiano
