In failing to sustain his magic during his time at Dortmund, Jurgen Klopp left the Westfalenstadion with a fan base girded with the fear of how the hell they were going to not fall into the very oblivion every bundesliga team that challenged Bayern Munich for the past decade fell.
Leverkusen, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg and Schalke have all suffered meltdowns the very moment they worked to disrupt the Bavarians’ dominance.
In signing homeboy Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski, the Munich giants played the same card they used in rendering former close competitors powerless. However, Dortmund still managed to save enough fire to trouble the Allianz campers for every major trophy available in German football.
Despite ripping out their core together with other European giants – Manchester United poached Shinji Kagawa while Nurin Sahin left for Real Madrid – Die Borussen somehow managed to thrive on or at least not fall into oblivion as feared.
It turned out that Klopp’s greatest gift to the club may not even be the league title he helped them secure in 2012. His most important achievement was giving them an identity.
However, that very identity still needed to be promoted and even refined and that is where Thomas Tuchel comes in. The Krumbach-born resumed the post right after the heavy metal brand of football proponent left for Anfield. Even if a league title remained elusive, the 43-year old did his best to keep Dortmund within the lucrative corridors of the bundesliga away from the ugly underground alley former contenders currently have themselves in.
Unfortunately for the Dortmund fans, their coach picked up a quarrel with the club chairman and that has now led to his sacking two days after giving them the German Cup.
For a club whose chances of staying relevant is constantly threatened by the big pied piper in Munich, such seeds for instability is the last thing they need.