Vincent Kompany is used to having the cameras around — not only as a player, in his long career at Manchester City and elsewhere — but also as coach.
Prior to his arrival at Bayern Munich, a viral locker room video was reportedly already circulating among the Bayern squad, a product of a documentary from his days at Anderlecht.
Now it’s a different viral video, from last season, when Kompany was at Burnley — and a documentary crew again was on hand to capture a tirade at Icelandic midfielder Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson.
Guðmundsson announced his Burnley departure before Kompany’s hire to Bayern was concluded.
The Bayern head coach was asked about it this week in an interview with Belgium outlet DH les Sports + — as captured by @iMiaSanMia:
A video of you screaming and swearing at Gudmundsson in Burnley has gone viral recently..
First, here’s the clip…
Kompany goes on a tear, chastising the player for “moaning” and declaring his body language to be comparable to excrement. At one point Kompany starts to walk away before wheeling around and screaming, “It’s [expletive]-ing life or death! [Expletive]-ing play!” — to which Gudmundsson responds, “I [expletive]-ing know that!”
Now that the dust has settled, though, Kompany was able to laugh about the incident and detail the story behind it.
“I’ve also explained to him calmly,” the 38-year-old says in the interview. “This is actually the first time this year at Bayern that I don’t have a camera crew filming my entire season for a documentary. It was the case at Anderlecht and Burnley. When every speech and every training session is filmed, there’s always a moment like that.
“But the message of all that is that we are giving our lives for our club. If the club gets relegated, people will lose their jobs. we have a responsibility. We should never find ourselves in a situation where we have a lack of attention. It wasn’t about a bad pass or a bad tactical choice, but about fundamental things: running and fighting for each other. He had broken the basic principles.”
Serving notice to Bayern, then? Expect intensity and a demand for absolute commitment. Kompany may be fresh-faced in the coaching ranks, but he is not messing around.
Looking for more thoughts on the contract negotiations between Bayern Munich and Jamal Musiala, plus a take on Didi Hamann’s recent criticism of Musiala? What about an assessment of that crazy rumor eyeing a double-swoop of transfers in Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka? Awesome, then check out the latest edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show on Patreon, Spotify, or below:
