Bayern Munich board member for sport Max Eberl wants to give fans more opportunities to get up close and personal with their favorite players.
“Uli (Hoeneß) has always said that the fans from Germany, from Bavaria and around Munich are the elementary, the root, the basis of this club,” sports boss Max Eberl told Abendzeitung. “There will be more public training sessions on Säbener Straße again — no longer every three or four months, but in the best case one or two sessions every two weeks. Football is open to the fans, to the children — we must continue to maintain that and even expand it.”
Eberl, though, did note that not everything should be available for public consumption. During Pep Guardiola’s time at the club, the Spaniard wanted to prevent any leaks or spying attempts:
This was not always the case in the Bavarian capital in the past. Pep Guardiola once had a high security barrier built around the training pitch so that he could train in secret. “Sometimes we have to keep to ourselves when we train. We need peace and quiet. I was told that our opponents are on the small hill in front of our pitch to watch what we do,” said the current Manchester City coach at the time.
Julian Nagelsmann was even given his own place for secret training. The training ground was too thinly soundproof, and despite the privacy screen still in place, the tactical instructions from outside could still be heard, it was said.
While those concerns probably will not be fully alleviated, Eberl knows the club needs to embrace the fans a little more — and public sessions is a perfect way to do just that.
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