I follow the Bundesliga every week and it is a fantastic league but not for the reason's you'd expect. In reality it's a crap league, however that fact makes it one of the best, if not the best. The standard is so poor that a team could face relegation or be challenging for Europe. No one can predict who will finish where. I can give two examples of this. Yesterday newly promoted side Hertha Berlin destroyed Eintracht Frankfurt 6-1. Last year Frankfurt just missed out on European football and they were a newly promoted side themselves that season. Now Berlin have made them look crap. This could mean the start of something wonderful for Hertha Berlin and it could be the start of something horrible for Frankfurt, or it could just mean nothing. Another example is Monchengladbach. 3 years ago they barely survived the drop. The season after they qualified for the Champions League, albeit they were beaten in the qualifying stages but still. Last year they slumped to a mid-table finish. They've been all over the place and this could happen to anyone, except two.
These two are the ones that led people to believe the Bundesliga was the greatest in terms of quality. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund dominated the league and the Champions league. So the question is, what makes these two better than everyone else? How have they gotten to this level, what method did they use to rise above the others?
Bayern managed to produce a fantastic array of home grown talents before the formation of the Bundesliga. They had dominated the early Bavarian league, however that was not a huge success. What gained them that early success in the Bundesliga was 3 players dragging the team along. They had a young German lad up front by the name of Gerd Muller, a defender called Franz Beckanbauer and goalkeeper Sepp Maier. All 3 had joined the Bayern youth system in the late 50's and this takes us even earlier back. The 3 all wanted to play football because of won thing. Germany's world cup success of 1954. They saw those players and then they knew what they wanted. Munich was lucky to have so many talents in their back garden. The trio led Bayern to success in the Bundesliga and European competiton. The success made all the young Germans want to play for Bayern Munich. They kept winning trophies without a real period of major falter and then when prizes for winning trophies got bigger, they gained more and more money which they used to sign even bigger players, so that they could win more trophies. That leads us to their brilliance today, not only that but the ability to attract people like Pep Guardiola.
Dortmund have gone about it a slightly different way. As most of you are aware, Dortmund have only become major success in the past 4 years. After their Champions league triumph in 1997, they received a lot of money. However they used this money quickly and badly. Spending £23 million on players like Amoroso. Their victories dried up and they lost money fast. This lead to being on the brink of bankruptcy. Dortmund's money was running out fast and they weren't getting the wins to generate more. Then an unlikely source came to their rescue. Who might that be? It was Bayern Munich. They lent Dortmund £3 million pounds just to get back on their feet a little.
Then came the three wise men: Carsten Cramer (Marketing director), Hans-Joachim Watzke (Chief executive) and Michael Zorc (Director of football). These 3 tuned Dortmund into a business, a brand name if you will. They revitalised the way Dortmund was run and helped make them popular. Then when they got some money they spent it wisely. They did not go and bring in loads of players from around the world, they did what would help maintain the image of Dortmund while also building for the future. Yes, they invested all of it in youth systems, Youth systems which made Mario Gotze, Marco Reus (although he went to Gladbach and then bought back) and more promising players. However this was still not enough and tis is where Klopp comes in. Klopp's know how in the transfer market is second to none and he rarely goes chasing big stars from all over. What he did was resurrect people career's and pick out unheard of youngsters, such as Marcel Schmelzer. The left back had spent 4 years at amateur side FC Magdeburg. Suddenly he was placed in the first team of a Bundesliga side. Another example would be Robert Lewandowski. He was not the only one to spot to the Pole, with Blackburn ready to strike a deal. In the end he preferred the option of Dortmund because of their image and newly found quality. He paid £$ million for someone who is now worth around £35 million. He saw he had talent, however Klopp was able to enhance that talent and turn him into someone who scores 4 goals against Real Madrid. Can you imagine where he would be if he had chosen to join Blackburn. There are other examples of this like Sven Bender, Mats Hummels, Roman Weidenfeller, Ilkay Gundogan and many more.
Klopp has recently slashed the cash. That's because he feels he has to in order to be successful on the European stage. Will Klopp be able to continue his transfer wonders alongside the big money signings.
So now I pose a question. Will Dortmund be able to continue their success on all fronts and how long will it be before Bayern Munich lose momentum?
In my opinion Bayern will continue to be dominant until they severely reduce the price of players in world football. Dortmund might meet their end a lot sooner because of all the attention they are getting from all over the world. Their image will be damaged and they may be forced to splash out on unproven players. However I cannot be certain, only the future will reveal.
These two are the ones that led people to believe the Bundesliga was the greatest in terms of quality. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund dominated the league and the Champions league. So the question is, what makes these two better than everyone else? How have they gotten to this level, what method did they use to rise above the others?
Bayern managed to produce a fantastic array of home grown talents before the formation of the Bundesliga. They had dominated the early Bavarian league, however that was not a huge success. What gained them that early success in the Bundesliga was 3 players dragging the team along. They had a young German lad up front by the name of Gerd Muller, a defender called Franz Beckanbauer and goalkeeper Sepp Maier. All 3 had joined the Bayern youth system in the late 50's and this takes us even earlier back. The 3 all wanted to play football because of won thing. Germany's world cup success of 1954. They saw those players and then they knew what they wanted. Munich was lucky to have so many talents in their back garden. The trio led Bayern to success in the Bundesliga and European competiton. The success made all the young Germans want to play for Bayern Munich. They kept winning trophies without a real period of major falter and then when prizes for winning trophies got bigger, they gained more and more money which they used to sign even bigger players, so that they could win more trophies. That leads us to their brilliance today, not only that but the ability to attract people like Pep Guardiola.
Dortmund have gone about it a slightly different way. As most of you are aware, Dortmund have only become major success in the past 4 years. After their Champions league triumph in 1997, they received a lot of money. However they used this money quickly and badly. Spending £23 million on players like Amoroso. Their victories dried up and they lost money fast. This lead to being on the brink of bankruptcy. Dortmund's money was running out fast and they weren't getting the wins to generate more. Then an unlikely source came to their rescue. Who might that be? It was Bayern Munich. They lent Dortmund £3 million pounds just to get back on their feet a little.
Then came the three wise men: Carsten Cramer (Marketing director), Hans-Joachim Watzke (Chief executive) and Michael Zorc (Director of football). These 3 tuned Dortmund into a business, a brand name if you will. They revitalised the way Dortmund was run and helped make them popular. Then when they got some money they spent it wisely. They did not go and bring in loads of players from around the world, they did what would help maintain the image of Dortmund while also building for the future. Yes, they invested all of it in youth systems, Youth systems which made Mario Gotze, Marco Reus (although he went to Gladbach and then bought back) and more promising players. However this was still not enough and tis is where Klopp comes in. Klopp's know how in the transfer market is second to none and he rarely goes chasing big stars from all over. What he did was resurrect people career's and pick out unheard of youngsters, such as Marcel Schmelzer. The left back had spent 4 years at amateur side FC Magdeburg. Suddenly he was placed in the first team of a Bundesliga side. Another example would be Robert Lewandowski. He was not the only one to spot to the Pole, with Blackburn ready to strike a deal. In the end he preferred the option of Dortmund because of their image and newly found quality. He paid £$ million for someone who is now worth around £35 million. He saw he had talent, however Klopp was able to enhance that talent and turn him into someone who scores 4 goals against Real Madrid. Can you imagine where he would be if he had chosen to join Blackburn. There are other examples of this like Sven Bender, Mats Hummels, Roman Weidenfeller, Ilkay Gundogan and many more.
Klopp has recently slashed the cash. That's because he feels he has to in order to be successful on the European stage. Will Klopp be able to continue his transfer wonders alongside the big money signings.
So now I pose a question. Will Dortmund be able to continue their success on all fronts and how long will it be before Bayern Munich lose momentum?
In my opinion Bayern will continue to be dominant until they severely reduce the price of players in world football. Dortmund might meet their end a lot sooner because of all the attention they are getting from all over the world. Their image will be damaged and they may be forced to splash out on unproven players. However I cannot be certain, only the future will reveal.
