Depends on how you use the phrase "stay within their means". Bayern is very much staying within their means. Liverpool turned a profit last year. Man United spend like crazy, but who is to say they aren't servicing their debt in a way that is sustainable? You seen their revenues lately?
I wonder when the last time Bayern didn't win 1 match out of their previous 4 fixtures... has to have been a long time ago. Time to coax Jupp out of retirement... again.
By the by, German clubs also have sugar daddies. They just have to jump through more hoops, so they get tired of it faster. That's why Herr Kühne said "I'm done" and left HSV stranded.
In the late 90's BVB won back-to-back titles and had a core of the German NT that won the Euro 96 Cup in England. Then, they topped it off by winning their first and only CL vs defending champion, Juventus...in Munich of all places, in 1997. Many great German players were having no issue moving from abroad or even from Bayern to Dortmund including international names. That being said, by the time we won our first CL title, Bayern already had 7 international titles - and you'll see how that plays a role in your question. No matter, Dortmund were on the up and up. Then it happened. Nevio Scala becomes BVB manager and Ottmar Hitzfeld goes from BVB to manage Bayern in 1998. The tides shift back again. Despite winning the Buli again in 2002, several years later, BVB are close to bankruptcy due to poor club management. I think Bayern's biggest advantage is that the moment they broke into the BuLi in the late 60's, they had success in Europe making them a destination club rather than a stepping stone. Attracting usually the core of the German NT, it was easy to attract other international players. Bayern, through astute and sometimes shady business, were simply able to always be smart . Even through their FC Hollywood periods (looks like they are having one now) they manage to get the right people and right players to bring them back to the top, not just domestically but also internationally. The name attracts players and coaches no matter what. This attracts endorsements like no other team in Germany. The amount of sponsors that Bayern has is ridiculous from Marriott to Quatar Airways to Coke to EA Sports. The list is endless. No one else in Germany has this. The board of directors also consists of the highest execs from Audi, Adidas, Deutsche Telekom, Allianz, etc. These are business people. People that don't think about football but about profit and making money efficiently. While most clubs draw the majority of their revenue from broadcasting rights, Bayern actually gets it from commercial contracts. On top of that, Audi, Allianz and Adidas also own stock at Bayern. No idea why they all start with "A". They probably have the best well run business globally in football - no doubt. Their brand is valued only second behind United and ahead of Real and they have the worlds largest fanbase (official fans and fan cubs). These guys are just smart at making money, not just playing football.
After Mbappe's 4 goals against Lyon, I now demand a Pulisic hat-trick sometime this season against the likes of Schalke or Leverkusen.
Thanks Cris 09!!! I like Dortmund. Look at them like I do LSU (college football...stadium holds approx. 101,000 passionate fans...big time SEC football). The fans are great like LSU's (I can relate to them.). I started following the team because of Pulisic. I love the way this team's attackers are playing and am hoping Pulisic decides to stay at Dortmund. My fear is that Dortmund has been selling their best players (Reus is home grown and stayed) and will break the attackers up as well. This could be a great team with improvement on defense and keeping the big 5 attackers. That's why I want Dortmund to grab the bull by the horns (be aggressive in business endorsements and generating additional revenues) and keep their best players. I just want them better than the BIG dogs.
Read the Wikipedia entry about Bayern's financial arrangements and who their sponsors are. Interesting. Here are some quotes:
One would expect Hamburg or Augsburg to be big in Korea, because of the Korean players there, but Bayern is still the big name there as well. Marketing works: in the USA Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have a lot of fans, even if those clubs don't play any Yank.
It's amazing how well run that club is as a business. The combination of former players and actual experienced business people outside the football industry is a perfect balance. While several German clubs have golden eras like Hamburg, Gladbach and Dortmund, Bayern has been able to maintain a consistent brand that represents success. Young German footballers and kids abroad grow up being Bayern fans.
A bit of speculation - but Eden Hazard might get his Madrid move this winter. Pulisic would fit in well with Sarri Ball.
I'm all for it. #FreeEden! edit, not sure it's that great a move for CP, and not sure Chelsea would want to spend Real's many millions on CP. But yeah, apart from that, I'd love to see that happen.
You realize Abramobitch is persona non grata in the UK and decapitalizing Chelsea. Unless he finds someone to buy the club off his hands of course.
As a Utd fan, I thought they were going to create a permanent dynasty so long as Abromavic was there much to my dismay - so yea it's been kinda crazy to watch this happen. Chelsea is always going to hold an interesting place in history - they were the first super club that turned into a super club exclusively through a rich owner swooping in. Prior to them joining, it was Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool in the Prem, Barca and Madrid in Spain, Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen in Germany, and the two Milan clubs and Juventus. Chelsea joined them, and then set a precedent for PSG and City to climb up as well thanks to rich owners. Interesting footballing world today.
Chelsea had the violent, territorial, racist hooligans long before it had the money. So in a way they had already a tradition. BTW, I know one old Chelsea hooligan guy who now lives peacefully as a journalist (he never writes about sports) here in Canada. Only Millwall and Leeds have worse (historical?) hooligans.
Back to football, I don't think that CP and Hazard are the same type of player. Not yet anyway. Hazard is really special in that he can change a game or carry his team all game and week in an week out. His ability to ride a tackle is only shared by a few. His ability to weave thru traffic is also only shared by a few. We can only hope that CP approaches that. I hope that with maturity CP comes close to that. He is nowhere near that. Good, yes, but not Hazard. Giving the kid all the kudos we do is cool, but he is only a kid, 20 yo.
I watched the Chelsea match on tv this weekend with my son. Hazard was amazing. His work rate, dribbling, vision, finishing, and tactical awareness were all off the charts. My seven year old is a huge Hazard fan (we were in Belgium this summer for the WC and he latched onto them) and I kept on pointing out to him where Hazard would show up on the pitch. It was astounding the way he would go and get the ball from the full backs and then end up receiving a pass a few seconds later at the top of the box. Left wing, right wing, centrally, deep: he was everywhere. One of the better displays I've seen. CP is clearly not at that level of polish yet, but I'm also not sure it would be fair to expect him to get to that level either. I'd settle for him being 90% of that player, which would still make him the best American player ever by some distance.
I think you bring up an interesting point, tangentially but still what I have noticed is that Pulisic gets himself in more duels per minute than almost any other player in the bundesliga. Specifically, excluding aerial battles he is third in duels per 90 in the bundesliga last time I checked. Whether that’s dribbles, tackles or fouls drawn, it is astounding that he is that highly ranked. No wonder he is gassed so often. As you say to get to the level of a Hazard he now has to win more of these duels, to have a little more polish as you say. On paper, circus 2012-2013 when Hazard was a year older than CP is now their numbers are remarkably similar in terms of takes on etc. Re duels https://www.bundesliga.com/en/stats...son/all-matchdays/player-stats/challenges-won