Lahm writes autobiography, creates controversy

Germany and FC Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm has gotten himself into serious trouble with his upcoming autobiography, though it hasn't been released so far but only excerpts have been published in the German tabloid Bild.



The book titled 'The Subtle Difference' is about Lahm's observations over the years of his professional career about his coaches and teams. The first excerpts have been about Rudi Voeller, Juergen Klinsmann, Felix Magath and Louis van Gaal; with some harsh criticism from Lahm about their coaching and style of players management.



Philipp Lahm was surprised at the reactions and had to come out with a public statement which said, "Of course, I did not want to attack or offend Rudi Voeller, Juergen Klinsmann and other people. Rather I wanted, as is clear from reading my book, to portray my honest opinion about the work under different coaches and at different times."



All this hasn't gone down well with the football establishment in Germany with even the German FA (DFB) having to come together to discuss if any action would be taken against Lahm but the captain will not lose the armband as many in the German media speculated.



"We want mature players to make their opinions known, however in this case, Philipp has over-stepped the mark," said team manager Oliver Bierhoff.



And the same opinion was German national coach Joachim Loew who said, "There are a few passages in the book which I don't like, because here we have a young player openly criticising his trainer after they have worked together successfully for a long time."



"We will talk about this together next week," Loew added.



The autobiography has come in for heavy criticism by numerous Bundesliga coaches who cannot understand how Lahm could simply write such a book.