Rohl's role at Bayern was not a backward step. He joined in similar role to what he had at Saints and what Richard K joined as, but in a much bigger club. He also must have known the writing was on the wall for Kovac and now that Flick is in charge at least for the interim Rohl is his main assistant. Can't see why anyone would be surprised at him moving to one of the biggest clubs in the world which just happens to be in your home country. His wife apparently was not over keen on moving permanently to the UK. It was a major loss for Ralph, he thought he could get by without him but soon realised that he couldn't do it all and Kitzbichler was brought in and his influence has grown, either because he is very good, or probably more likely it has allowed Ralph to focus on what he does best, and the result is the resurgence in our form, back to, probably exceeding last season.