German camp in disarray

Just in case anyone had doubted it, given their dismal, bitterly introspective performance at Euro 2000, the stereotype of German organisation and Teutonic order must now be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Germany is a country in a mess, football-wise, to the extent that this week newspaper stories about the England World Cup qualifier at Wembley have featured words such as "cocaine", "prostitutes" and "corruption". Unlike at Euro 2000, the players can at least hold up their hands and say: "Not guilty".

No, this scandal is not about players on the grass, so to speak; instead, it is set off the pitch and centres on the man who would be Kaiser - Christophe Daum. Daum is the coach of Bayer Leverkeusen who becomes the next Germany manager on June 1st, 2001. That, anyway, is the plan. It is a peculiar arrangement, one that sees Daum's current general manager at Leverkeusen, Rudi Voller, as the national team's interim manager. Doubts about its wisdom surfaced as soon as it became clear that Erich Ribbeck was going to be ushered aside after the European Championships. But Voller, as with Kevin Keegan, is a popular figure both nationally and with the players, the latter being most important after the in-fighting seen in the Low Countries.

Initially, as with Keegan and England, that popularity increased after the first couple of games Voller supervised as manager. Not only did Germany beat Spain by the impressive scoreline of 4-1 in Hanover in his first match in charge, Voller's first competitive game as coach was a 2-0 win against Greece in Hamburg in Group Nine. Thus Germany are three points closer to qualification than England.

The general German reaction to the two results was sufficiently positive for even Franz Beckenbauer to voice publicly the thought that perhaps Voller should stay on rather than give way to Daum next June. Voller has been adamant that this will not happen.

"After 10 months it will definitely be over for me and the national team," Voller said. "Christophe Daum is the man for the job. In all my time in football he is the best coach I have come across."

Voller was not seen as disingenuous when he said that. Daum really is better qualified and Voller has never coached before. That was the accepted situation, and with the players having tried to overcome their differences in the wake of Lothar Mattheus' retirement, the Germans should have travelled to do their preparation at Arsenal's training ground near St Albans in relatively stable mood. Maybe that was the case. However, on Monday the agenda changed when a Munich newspaper ran a salacious story concerning Daum that caused Uli Hoeness, a member of the selection panel that chose the VollerDaum succession, to remark: "If a newspaper can publish reports about cocaine rumours and wild sex parties without any comeback from Daum, then it seems to me that the story might be true. If it is, then there is no way that Germany can proceed with installing this man as coach. Things have changed since I voted for him."

Daum, already under investigation in Germany over a property deal, was consulting his lawyers yesterday but is said to be adamant that the Germany job will be his eventually. But, sitting in the tranquillity of St Albans, Voller could not escape the storm.

"I want people to drop this subject until after the game on Saturday," said Voller, "but I cannot either avoid or forbid the players discussing this among themselves."

Damage has been done undoubtedly. Bayer Leverkeusen's greatest rivals are Bayern Munich and there were whispers yesterday of yet another split in the camp along club lines.

It all combined to leave an image of disarray and must have left the team captain, Oliver Bierhoff, wondering about the penetration level of something he said before the Spain game. Bierhoff, while accepting the need for players to take responsibility for Euro 2000, said: "The most important thing is that a clear line is defined from above. I consider discipline and order very important. The team has to have the sense that it is moving in a certain direction."