The squad were subjected to a talk from their head coach at the beginning of the season, in which he outlined his new stick over carrot approach, and reportedly told them, 'from now on, this is all completely compulsory'.
At the centre of the new idea is a rigorous system of fines for small indiscretions, which the German press have christened 'Guardiola's punishment catalogue'. Punishable indiscretions involve arriving late to team meetings, not observing dress codes, failing to put dirty clothes in laundry bins, and taking phone calls on the first floor of Bayern's training ground HQ on Sabener Strasse.
Players will receive a €250 fine for committing an offence on one occasion, with the size of the fine going up by another €250 with every repeat offence. Captain Philipp Lahm is said to be in charge of collecting the fines from offending players. [lol The image of this is cracking me up]
Fines will also be handed out to players who are deemed to be overweight, and to those who fail to eat within an hour of the end of a training session or a match. This last point is reported to be particularly important to Guardiola.
On the advice of Bayern's dietician Mona Nemmer, the players should be eating pasta dishes within an hour of finishing work, but many avoid doing so, in order to eat with their families when they return home. This has clearly begun to frustrate the Guardiola.
The stricter discipline has been taken as a direct response to Bayern's Champions League collapse last season. In April, director of sport Matthias Sammer complained that the atmosphere at the club was too friendly, describing it as a 'cuddly oasis'. [Aww, it does seem like a friendly dressing room.]
His worst fears were confirmed when the team slumped to a 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Real Madrid days late. Having already won the Bundesliga by March, many saw that defeat as a psychological failure.
Indeed, Guardiola admitted as much himself. In a new biography dealing with his first year at Bayern, the Spaniard is quoted saying that he and his players became too emotional about the Real game, which ultimately led to their downfall.
Hence the new, more ruthless approach. With a plethora of early season injuries to deal with, as well a lack of pre-season preparation for his World Cup winners, Guardiola is also keen to make sure the side is as fit as possible. Lahm explained the new regime in those terms.
'We're not used to starting the season having trained so little. After such a short holiday, it's difficult to be at 100 per cent' said the Bayern captain.
Despite having won the Double in his first season in Munich, Guardiola knows that his time at Bayern will be judged primarily on the Champions League. He is desperate to avoid the same physical and psychological collapse which embarrassed his team last season.
As the new season gets under way, it's out with the cuddly oasis, and in with the Bavarian bootcamp.
Other clubs probably have such rules, but I can imagine Pep being really intense about it.