In the late nineties, during the reign of coach Giovanni Trapattoni, FC Bayern acquired the unflattering nickname “FC Hollywood”. Squabbles and in-fighting were the norm, Trapattoni’s antics were a joke, and players made regular appearances in the gossip rags. Things settled down a bit in ‘98, as Ottomar Hitzfeld took the helm and ushered die Roten in to a period of national and international success: Four Bundesliga Championships, two DFB-Pokal Cups, one Champions League Cup (one runner-up), and one Intercontinental Cup.

The unfortunate moniker seemed to be slowly fading away until the failed “Klinsmann experiment”, and then a new period of “he said - he said” public bickering brought the old nickname back for a spell. Things quieted down again after Juergen’s exit, as caretaker coach Jupp Heynckes salvaged what he could and kept the Bavarians in Champions League competition the following season.

All (well, most) hailed the arrival of Dutch mastermind Louis van Gaal--- oh, for about 3 months--- before disaster set in. And FC Hollywood was born again. LVG was rumored to be herded out the door before a must-win October match against Frankfurt. Meanwhile Philipp Lahm had gone on record imploring “everything has to get better”. And it got worse.

Two losses to Bordeaux in the Champions League group stages saw Bayern (and van Gaal) on the ropes again, as they faced a must-win match against the Old Lady, Juventus, in Turin. I don’t think I have to remind anyone of how that one went, however, in case I do--- We kicked butt. After conceding the opener on a Demichelis error, Bayern was granted a penalty which goalkeeper Butt scored with aplomb. And Munich never looked back; just one game short of winning a historic treble.

The second half of the ’09-’10 season, the name FC Hollywood took a different tone. It came more to mean the dramatic way in which our matches were won. The important ones from behind or needing away goals, with Olic and Robben serving up some tasty, heart-breaking scoring with style and determination.

Then the summer happened, with that little footballing tournament known as the World Cup. Bayern stars claimed international glory as first-team regulars Klose, Mueller, Kroos, Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Butt, Gomez, van Bommel, Robben and Demichelis all played deep in to the competiton. They came back to Munich late and understandably exhausted (and in the case of Arjen, torn up to hell). No one thought they’d storm out of the gate quickly, did they?

Frustrated by a slow start, Bayern blamed (/ is still blaming) the KNVB of mishandling Arjen Robben’s injury. Meanwhile, Bayern Muenchen AG was fighting (/ is still fighting) with UEFA over false allegations of match fixing. (I say false. Nothing’s been proven and Bayern certainly does not need the cash.) Ribery got hurt again. Then Olic and Klose were injured on international duty. Contento out. And then van Bommel went down while playing for the Dutch; adding more fuel to that volatile situation.

Ah, FC Hollywood once again!

But, wait! There’s more!

Demichelis still has an attitude problem. Louis van Gaal is still arrogant as hell--- right along with everyone else in the front office. Schweinsteiger is hinting at leaving Bayern for England because the fans are more loyal. (And to that I say: Bastian, take a good look at Roo. Also, you know what the English think your last name means, in English.) Last year’s horrible start has only been eclipsed by this year’s horrible start: 3-2-3, and languishing in tenth place in the Bundesliga.

But yet, the men from Munich have managed bright spots out of all this muddle. Tymoschuk, playing out of position, has emerged as our best center-back. A Bastian Schweinsteiger double handed us a second-round victory against Werder Bremen in the DFB Pokal. And we started scoring goals (finally!) against Freiburg. Heck, we even scored one for them. Not to mention the fact that a victory against Cluj, on November 3rd, will see us through to the round of sixteen in the Champions League.

This makes the outburst Uli Hoeness gave after the victory against Freiburg all the more inexplicable:

“It's very difficult to have a conversation with Louis van Gaal. He can't accept it when someone has a different opinion to him. However, you can't run a club all by yourself these days,” he told Sky90. “I'm watching the game from the stands and I see three players scoring who should have left the club long ago according to Louis. These players are still very useful though”, he continued.

Ah, Uli! The only man that eclipses you is Franz Beckenbauer. Herr Beckenbauer, who once called Louis van Gaal “the King of Munich” went on to defend Uli’s statements against van Gaal. “[Hoeness] has the right to shake things up. Before everyone starts patting each other on the back, Uli intervenes. It's something he likes to do.”

And van Gaal replied to the statements uttered by Hoeness, “I'm really surprised that the president of a big club such as Bayern Munich has said these kind of things in a difficult period where we miss nine players due to injury…I don't want to contradict someone like Hoeness. He's been at Bayern for a very long period, while I arrived here only 16 months ago. However, I think that someone who's so important should think about the consequences of his comments before saying something like this.”

Good on ya, van Gaal! I’m in complete agreement with him. I mean, for chrissakes--- we’re actually winning matches now. I’m of the opinion that if Uli wanted to have a say about who plays on the pitch, he should’ve kept the job, on the sidelines, that Christian Nerlinger now occupies.

Publicly, Hoeness and van Gaal have called a truce. For now. So, Bayern supporters, what FC Hollywood saga plays out next?