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Die Fußball-Bundesliga 2015/16

Kevin Carr's Gloves

By Kevin Carr's Gloves,
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Meenzer

Meenzer 15347

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They used to be massive (admittedly, we're talking 60 years ago). Well worth a look I'd say, for all it's a bit like suggesting a trip to see Blyth Spartans when you're visiting Tyneside, but I suppose any proper football fan would be well up for that too. Plus you'll no doubt be able (and allowed) to sup a Pils or two in the process. :good:

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Tom

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They used to be massive (admittedly, we're talking 60 years ago). Well worth a look I'd say, for all it's a bit like suggesting a trip to see Blyth Spartans when you're visiting Tyneside, but I suppose any proper football fan would be well up for that too. Plus you'll no doubt be able (and allowed) to sup a Pils or two in the process. :good:

 

Aren't you allowed that in all the grounds? I wonder how many bother?

 

Most people in SJP would be on drip feeds.

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Tooj

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/borussia-dortmund/10428828/British-interest-in-Borussia-Dortmund-no-surprise-to-the-men-who-make-the-Yellow-Wall-work.html

 

Hans-Joachim Watzke, the chief executive of Borussia Dortmund, was struck by an extraordinary phenomenon when, caught up in traffic on the way to his club’s recent Bundesliga game against Hanover, he decided to get out of the car with his son and walk the last 500 metres to the Westfalenstadion.

 

“This 500 metres must have taken about an hour to walk as I got stopped for what seemed about 250 photos,” said Watzke, recalling a great time mingling with the usual 80,000 fans. “And the amazing thing was that I think about 10 per cent of those who asked for photos were English guys.

 

“It made me realise just how many English people were going to the stadium. My son told me, ‘It’s marvellous; they’re all speaking English’. It was very surprising for me but they all told me it was because of wonderful atmosphere and wonderful prices.”This is the Borussia experience they fly hundreds of mile to relish.

On Wednesday night Arsenal will bring 3,300 fans to watch their Champions League clash but a Brit invasion is nothing new.

 

At every Dortmund home match, 800-1,000 fans will usually have made the trip from Britain.

 

Why? Because, according to Watzke, they are attracted by the unique ambience of one of Europe’s last great romantic clubs, where the tickets – and beer – are cheap, the fans are put first and an extraordinary throwback feel, full of raw passion and energy at the best attended club in the world, can perhaps make them remember something that British football has mislaid.

 

“I think the English have the deepest feeling for football, a little bit more of a romantic feeling than in Italy, so I think that maybe they think there is something missing in English football, that the English clubs have lost a bit of a feeling,” says Watzke.

 

“Not necessarily just in London, but maybe in Newcastle or other cities. That’s the great difficulty they face. They’re not as in touch with the heart as over here.”

It is a big claim that should concern and wound England’s fat cats, even if Watzke will not criticise Premier League clubs. “They have been very successful; I’m not the guy who has to tell them what they have to do and they must go their way. But we go our way.” And an extraordinarily persuasive way it looks. Compare, for instance, tonight’s opponents, two of the most attractive teams and best run clubs in their respective leagues.

Staggeringly, Arsenal, according to Watzke, make 45 times as much revenue from their home match days as Dortmund yet their cheapest season ticket is about twice as dear as Borussia’s most expensive.

 

A season ticket for Dortmund’s famed Sudtribune, to savour one of football’s great experiences on the “Yellow Wall”, Europe’s biggest stadium terrace, alongside 25,000 bouncing fans costs just €190 (£160). Arsenal’s cheapest seat costs £985.

 

Carsten Cramer, Dortmund’s marketing director, suggests the British fan invasion over the past couple of years can partly be explained because of the cost of budget air travel and a ticket, whose price includes free public transport, can work out cheaper than a day out at some London clubs.

Borussia could rake in many millions more on match day but choose not to.

 

“We would lose credibility, we would lose loyalty, we would lose the bonding force with the fans. And that would cost us,” says Cramer. “For instance, our caterers asked to increase the price of half a litre of beer from €3.70 [£3.11] to €3.80 [£3.19] and we said that extra 10 cents doesn’t make the difference, why should we increase it? It doesn’t satisfy our people.”

 

As Watzke explains, the Dortmund philosophy must be that “no fan of Borussia Dortmund has a feeling that he is a client. German fans don’t want to feel like a spectator going to the theatre or the opera. They want to feel part of the whole.

 

They bill themselves, with no false modesty, as “Europe’s hottest club”, and they might be right as on and off the field they flourish spectacularly. In nine years since helping rescue the club from near-bankruptcy, Watzke has masterminded their path to a Champions League final last year and two Bundesliga titles in the past three seasons under Jürgen Klopp, a coach he feels is the world’s best. All achieved on a shoestring, relative to their major European rivals, too.

“We have not so much money,” says Watzke. “A transfer budget of €67 million [£56 million] – I think Stoke City has the same – and so we must be very, very sure that every euro of our investment comes back. And for that Jürgen is very important because we must have a coach that makes every player better.”

In a way, Dortmund, with their 55,000 season ticket holders and 95,000 club members, epitomise the flourishing health of German football.

 

The Bundesliga’s “50 plus one” rule which ensures the club is controlled by those members means that no foreign investor could ever take over anyway but Watzke emphasises the point, saying: “If an Arabian or a Russian phones me [to try to buy the club], I think the conversation will last 20 seconds.

"I will say I’m not interested. I would never be interested. Because with an Arabian or a Russian investor, who has the influence over the club, I think there wouldn’t be 80,000 spectators, there would be 20,000.

 

“The people at Chelsea were happy to win the Champions League, but I think the Borussia fans wouldn’t be happy to win it with an Arabian investor because then they wouldn’t be a piece of the club. Then they would only be customers — and they don’t want to be customers.

“English clubs must look at Financial Fair Play. It’s not a problem for Manchester United but for clubs who don’t have revenues yet spend money like Monaco.

“It’s correct that a club must spend from their revenues. It’s not the way of sport that the club with the richest investor wins. The club that wins should be the one that has the best team and the best management and the best ideas — not only the money. That’s the point.”

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Tooj

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25647442

 

Are brilliant Bayern Munich making the Bundesliga boring?

The German top-flight's winter break should have been about rest and recuperation for Bundesliga players and coaches.

But one question will have been driving them to distraction; how can we compete with Bayern Munich?

After a five-week absence, the Bundesliga returns on Friday when the leaders - and defending champions - travel to Borussia Monchengladbach.

Pep Guardiola's men are seven points ahead of nearest rivals Bayer Leverkusen, with last season's runners-up Borussia Dortmund 12 points adrift in fourth, as the second half of the campaign kicks off.

And, in a further demonstration of their power, the Champions League and Club World Cup holders announced earlier this month that Dortmund's prized asset Robert Lewandowski will join them in the summer.

"Bayern aren't from this world at the moment," Leverkusen sporting director and former Germany forward Rudi Voller told BBC Sport.

"The danger is very real that it will be boring at the top."

In 2013, Bayern broke records, won five trophies and hired one of the world's best coaches when Guardiola replaced the retiring Jupp Heynckes.

So let's put their domination in the context of English football. Since Bayern last lost in the Bundesliga, Chelsea have had three managers. English Premier League clubs have spent more £600m in transfer fees. A total of 14 players have made their international debuts for England.

That last Bundesliga defeat was way back in October 2012, when Sidney Sam's late header gave Leverkusen a 2-1 victory at the Allianz Arena.

The unbeaten run stretches to 41 matches.

"Bayern are playing a similar role to the one Barcelona played in Spain - they're virtually unbeatable and outplay most opponents," says Voller, who scored 47 goals in 90 games for Germany between 1982 and 1994.

"Borussia Dortmund have managed to battle back a little bit over the last few years, but not this year.

"This season, we have been close in terms of points, but Bayern's quality is not just in their starting 11 but also in the 11 after that. It is so high."

Voller was one of the greatest strikers in the history of German football and coached the national team when they reached the 2002 World Cup final.

This season, he watched from the stands as head coach Sami Hyypia guided Leverkusen to a 1-1 home draw against Bayern.

Since then, Leverkusen have overtaken Dortmund as Bayern's closest rivals at the top, but Voller admits the battles in other areas of the table are becoming more exciting than the title race.

"What's important is that there are other groups that are interesting," he adds. "Those playing for the Champions League spots, the Europa League places or the relegation candidates for example. That keeps the league exciting."

In the last 10 years, four teams have managed to beat Bayern to the Bundesliga title: Werder Bremen (2003-4), Stuttgart (2006-7), Wolfsburg (2008-9) and Dortmund (2010-11 and 2011-12).

Last season, though, second-placed Dortmund finished 25 points behind Bayern - and all four of those teams are now wondering how they are ever going to catch the reigning champions again.

"To be honest that's the most difficult question within the Bundesliga at the moment," says Stuttgart sporting director Jochen Schneider. "Bayern are far, far away from every other team, so it's quite difficult.

"One team dominating in that way is something we can't like, but remember it happened also in the 70s and the 80s when Bayern Munich dominated for a certain period.

"It's going to be very tough to win the title again but when we look back to 2006, the year before we last won the league, it was nearly the same situation - so in football, everything can happen.

"We have to work hard every day. We have won the title five times in the history of the club and I'm quite sure we will win it again."

On the pitch, the Stuttgart players are also feeling the strain of trying to compete with Bayern.

They narrowly lost the German Cup final 3-2 to the treble winners in May and will play them for the first time this season on 29 January.

"I think for the moment, there's no chance against Bayern Munich," Stuttgart and Guinea winger Ibrahima Traore told BBC Sport.

"They are too good, they have too much quality, they have too many players who can make a difference in every game. I think in the league no team can beat them. That's how I feel.

"I don't think their dominance is good for the Bundesliga but what can we do against them? They're strong, they're powerful and they can play. Every team is starting to aim for second place, not for the title."

The other problem for Bayern's rivals is that the Bavarian side have the power and the money to sign all of the best young talents in Germany after they have been developed at other clubs.

The prime example is Mario Gotze, who started training with Borussia Dortmund at just eight years of age.

After moving from the academy to the first team he helped Dortmund win two Bundesliga titles and reach a Champions League final.

But last April, Bayern came calling with a £31.5m bid and Gotze controversially moved from the Westfalenstadion to the Allianz Arena last summer.

Then, to add insult to injury for Dortmund fans, Poland striker Lewandowski signed a pre-contract agreement to join Bayern in the summer.

Stuttgart also have one of the most successful youth academies in the country, producing Germany internationals Sami Khedira and Mario Gomez among others, but their sporting director agrees that it is difficult to begrudge Bayern for their success or their spending power.

"Sometimes it's a bit frustrating but on the other hand they've done a very good job for 40 years, it's the best club in Germany," Schneider says.

"And it's not that they won the money in the lottery or that a Russian guy came to give them lots of money - it's the result of their work. It's something you have to accept.

"It's our job to close that gap and we're working on that."
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