Berlin (AFP) – Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovac insisted he would still be in charge next season after wrapping up the Bundesliga title with a 5-1 win over old club Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
“I am convinced that I will continue,” he told Sky after being drenched in wheat beer during Bayern’s customary title celebrations.
Kovac has been under increasing pressure of late, and reports earlier this week suggested he would be shown the door even if he won a league and cup double this month.
Bayern immediately denied the rumour. On Saturday, Kovac defiantly insisted that he would remain in his job.
Asked about the report, Kovac told Sky that he had “other, first-hand information”, suggesting that he had been given a job guarantee by the Bayern hierarchy.
“I talk to my bosses and I think I have interpreted them correctly,” he said later at the post-match press conference.
“I am working on the assumption that I will fulfil the remaining two years of my contract.”
“It has been an exhausting year, you can probably see that in my beard and my hair,” he said.
Bayern fans chanted Kovac’s name as the clock ticked down on their title-winning victory on Saturday.
“That touched me, because I am a human being of flesh and blood,” Kovac told Sky.
“It’s nice when you get a gesture like that.”
Bayern president Uli Hoeness said he had heard the chants, but refused to confirm whether Kovac would stay.
“I heard them, and they did me good,” he told Sky.
“I have never involved myself in this discussion and I won’t do so now on the day of our triumph.”
