'I feel completely at home with Bayern'

Felix Magath is not what you would call self-promoting, preferring nuances and light irony to get his emotions across. Characteristically, it was not that simple to detect his inner feelings at the news conference following his club's DFB German Cup triumph. The 51 year-old was typically dry and factual - but the giveaway was a broad smile and his obvious delight at the gold medal hanging round his neck.

"Winning the Cup is the biggest, best and finest moment for me personally," he later confessed in his whisper-like voice. "If you're listening to someone who isn't easy to understand, you pay more attention," he recently commented, and this mannerism, together with this term's success, represents a parallel to a previous Reds boss, Branko Zebec. Back in 1969, the Croat became Bayern's first and until now only coach to seal the double in his first season at the club. Eerily enough, both Zebec and Magath's teams won the Cup final 2-1 against Schalke 04.

"Obviously it's a dream come true, winning the league and cup in my first year as coach," the ever-understated Magath admitted. "It was important for me to earn recognition," he continued. The former Stuttgart boss came to the club without a trophy to his name as a coach, "so the championship was the really vital thing. The pressure came off, and it was easier after that."

The pressure at the beginning of the campaign could hardly have been greater. after the club's failure to collect silverware last term. "But I don't really feel the constant pressure to win honours which definitely exists here, because it's what I want for myself," he continued. "so that's why I feel completely at home with Bayern."

The boss has now completely settled in at the Säbener Strasse. "A new coach coming to Munich and collecting two trophies after a year without honours has obviously put in good work," praised Uli Hoeneß, "he's done many good things. The way the team kept going right to the end of the season is a tribute to his ability."

Discipline, organisation and fitness were Magath's watchwords when he arrived in Bavaria last summer. "It took a while before everyone understood his philosophy," recalled Franz Beckenbauer. "The team had lost its edge after a long run of success. He got them running again."

However, Magath's famously arduous workouts found favour with the playing staff. "He's a stickler for discipline, and that's important at this club because we've got large egos here," Michael Ballack confessed. "He's managed to combine a variety of characters into a unit. They're all good footballers. He's been brilliantly successful in getting us to play as a team." Magath's first season was hardly easy, but has ended in a blaze of glory. "I'm ready for my holiday now," he admitted later in the Cup party evening, without his medal but still smiling.

The coach will have enjoyed the part of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge's post-banquet speech addressed to him personally. "Dear Felix, I remember our first conversations in February 2004 when we discussed you coming to Bayern. I'll never forget what you said: 'I want to come to Bayern. I want to win the title, I want to win the Cup, and I want to be successful in the Champions League.' We've won the title, we've won the Cup, and we looked good in the Champions League. That's largely down to you, and I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart."