Bundesliga teams never simply draw matches. One of our many lovable national customs demands the use of a phrase unique to German football terminology; the voice on the radio or TV will always insist (with a hint of regret) that both sides "trennten sich unentschieden". They "parted company undecided".

It is unsure if this quirk can survive much longer after Wednesday's extraordinary hat-trick: three trite, uneventful draws decided everything - or, to be more precise, the fate of three managers at three of the league's most successful clubs. At Gladbach, Jupp Heynckes' unhappy tenure was brought to an end following another drab draw in the relegation battle. Shortly before midnight, Thomas Doll had lost the last remnants of sympathy on the Hamburg board. Their 1-1 draw with Energie Cottbus leaves them holding the "red lantern" - the German version of the wooden spoon - in the dark hole at the bottom of the table. But the biggest drama was naturally once again played out under the sunny Bavarian sky.

The morning after a thoroughly depressing 0-0 stalemate with lowly Bochum at the Allianz Arena, after which Bayern were booed off, Felix Magath took training and left, only to be asked back to Säbenerstrasse for a meeting with the board in the afternoon. The 53-year-old went to have his hair cut and returned to find his head on the chopping block. Afterwards, chief-executioner Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, known as "Killer Kalle" for his cold and sometimes downright ruthless demeanour, told the press about a "regretful move" that had been necessary in view of the club's league position. After one point from six in 2007, Bayern find themselves in a fourth spot that would entitle them only to participate in the Uefa Cup: "the losers' cup", according to president Franz Beckenbauer, and obviously quite beneath them.

Bild, Germany's biggest tabloid, first broke the news of Magath's marching orders. Their columnist Beckenbauer, who is away on business in Dubai and was not consulted before the decision, had tipped them off. The paper described the event as "a panic move", but in fact only the timing really surprised. Magath was always likely to be relieved of his position at the end of the season.

Despite winning unprecedented back-to-back doubles, he had long lost the faith of his players and the board. It wasn't so much the two bad results after the winter break but the veritable smorgasbord of inadequacies on show that hastened his departure. Systematic play was nonexistent. The entire team looked befuddled, gripped by a sense of insecurity.

Magath is not to blame for the disastrous transfer policy that is the root cause of Bayern's malaise - that responsibility lies with the board. But he compounded matters by not talking enough to his players. His policy of professional distance did not lend itself to the integration of new, young recruits like Lukas Podolski and it precluded the implementation of a modern tactical concept. "Not the end of an era," wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung today in recognition of the team's arrested development under Magath.

In fairness, Magath's emphasis on physical fitness did enable Bayern to overrun their rivals. At their best, in the spring of 2005, they played a powerful, muscular attacking game. That might have been enough to "dominate a domestic competition who are falling behind in Europe by the minute" (Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger) but, in the Champions League, Magath's tactical shortcomings were sadly evident. After the humiliating 4-1 defeat by AC Milan last season, a number of senior players privately complained about the lack of a coherent strategy. Magath "the Lord of the Medicine Balls" (SZ), failed to see the point. "Tactics are something for bad players," he quipped a few weeks ago.

It's easy to forget that Magath was hailed as "the super-brain of the Bundesliga" when he took over in Munich in 2004. A well-read, incredibly charming and witty man, he could talk for hours about football's similarities with chess, a game he taught himself in the late 70s. He had a reformist agenda; his declared aim was to shake Bayern out of their passive, slow style that characterised the last year of his predecessor Ottmar Hitzfeld. He managed to do that in his first season but then everything started to fall apart in the Dubai training camp of January 2006.

Inexplicably, Magath spent 10 whole days without speaking to anybody - not to the players, not to the board - and, after the Milan debacle, relations had become so strained that the board were debating his replacement. In one episode, he spent a whole hour in a car next to general manager Uli Hoeness without saying anything, then snapped: "If you want to fire me, you only have to tell me."

Winning a second German Cup final in May narrowly saved his neck but, in November, Hitzfeld was already quietly offering his services before an impressive win away to Leverkusen convinced Hoeness to stick with the current regime a bit longer. But Bayern's football only became more horrid and totally devoid of any vision. "Bayern's ambitions are global, yet the means and the football remain German," criticised the Stadt-Anzeiger.

For Frankfurter Rundschau, Hitzfeld's return only proves "Bayern's lack of imagination", but there were hardly any alternative candidates of the required stature. The club hope that the new old boss will be eager to prove a point after almost three years in semi-retirement. "I feel at home here, as if I'd never been away," he said at his first press conference today. Bayern have not ruled out prolonging the engagement beyond this season; worryingly for their supporters though, the names of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Gerard Houllier have also been mentioned.

In the end it'll certainly need more than one new body to reanimate the comatose giant; Bayern will have to ditch their prudent attitude and start spending big on players. Der Tagesspiegel puts it succinctly: "Instead of changing the manager, they will only be helped by a change of ideology."

Results: Bayer Leverkusen 0-2 Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich 0-0 VFL Bochum, Borussia Monchengladbach 0-0 Nurnberg, Hamburg 1-1 Cottbus, Hannover 96 5-0 Hertha Berlin, Mainz 1-0 Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 2-1 Alemania Aachen, VfB Stuttgart 3-2 Arminia Bielefeld, Wolfsburg 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt.