The New Year began at Bayern with visits to far-flung Qatar and Kuwait, but on Sunday the stars and personalities took the opportunity to see something of the region closer to home. The reason was the traditional and annual round of fan club visits, normally a pre-Christmas affair but postponed until the New Year on this occasion due to the FIFA Club World Cup. Many official fan clubs enter the draw for the chance to host a big Bayern name, and this year the players and coaching staff travelled to the usual wide variety of locations including the Allgäu region, Lower Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia and the Upper Palatinate. Manuel Neuer went all the way to Austria, and Tom Starke crossed the border to South Tyrol.
Pep Guardiola travelled a much shorter 30 km to the south of Munich and the town of Glonn, where the FCB contingent among the 5,000 inhabitants greeted the coach to the accompaniment of a marching band. The Spaniard signed the community’s Golden Book, reserved for special guests of honour, and ceremonially entered the hall set aside for the event to the strains of a brass band. Some 450 FC Bayern Stammtisch Glonn '94members and their invited guests warmly welcomed the FCB head coach.
“I’m delighted to be here,” said Guardiola, “it’s the first time I’ve been part of the FC Bayern fan club visits.“ On the day after his 43rd birthday, the Spaniard was visibly impressed by the programme devised in his honour: a birthday song in Spanish, a huge cake, and a traditional Bavarian jacket inscribed with his name. The coach immediately put on the fine sheepskin garment and was still wearing it when he left. Sister Carmen from the local convent bestowed the Order of the Good Shepherd on the Bayern coach, who was naturally made an honorary member of the club as well.
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