Both Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and German legend Franz Beckenbauer have admitted they expect Uli Hoeness to return as club president after serving his jail term for tax fraud.
Hoeness was found guilty in March of cheating the state out of 28.5 million euros ($39.5 million) in unpaid taxes, resigning as Bayern president and chairman of the club's supervisory board less than 24 hours after his conviction.
But he received a standing ovation when he addressed Bayern members in Friday's extraordinary general meeting as he waits to begin his three-and-a-half-year sentence.
Karl Hopfner has been voted in as replacement president, but Hoeness took to the stage to insist that he had no plans to retire once he is a free man again.
Senior club figures have already said Hoeness would be welcomed back once he has served his prison sentence.
"He resigned as president recently, so you don't have to be a great prophet to see that he will then return as president," Rummenigge told German Sky Sports.
Rummenigge has said he would visit Hoeness at Landsberg prison, near Munich, where Adolf Hitler wrote 'Mein Kampf' in 1924 after serving a short sentence for the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch.
Beckenbauer, a former Bayern player, coach and president, said the club 'need' the 1974 World Cup-winner back at the helm of the Bavarian giants.
"Uli needs Bayern and Bayern needs him," said the 68-year-old.
"It was a perfect union from the start since he arrived as a player in 1970.
"He will use the time (in jail) to think about the rest of his life and I hope he spends the rest of it at FC Bayern."
Bayern's dreams of becoming the first team to defend the Champions League title were ended last Tuesday when they were dumped out of the semi-finals after being drubbed 4-0 at home to Real Madrid.
They can still complete a domestic double when they take on Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final in Berlin on May 17 having already won the Bundesliga title.
Source: AFP
