Similar to the job at City or Chelsea then. But you wouldnt have picked the bigger challenge at the pub though, would you? 
Pep Guardiola agrees contract with Bayern
- Thread starter Cold_Boy
- Start date
It is really as simple as that. You put it better than I did it in all my posts combined.
I don't know why knives need to be out at someone holding that view.
Similar to the job at City or Chelsea then. But you wouldnt have picked the bigger challenge at the pub though, would you?
City or Milan are not exactly fat chicks with huge burgers in their mouth.
City or Milan are not exactly fat chicks with huge burgers in their mouth.
You get my point mate. You wouldnt leave the hottest chick for a good looking one just because its a bigger challenge either. The fat chick with the burger etc was just me exaggerating for effect.
Last time i checked, there was another team from that one team league in a certain final.
I still sense a hint of disbelief that the possibly most sought-after coach in world football decided to shun the mighty EPL. I think he had good reason to do so, and it has nothing to do with going the easy way.
Might have been different if United had made an offer. But they didn't.
Last time I checked, that team bought the other teams best player. Still makes double the revenues of any other club in the league.
You are right, the disbelief is due to the fact that he shunned the mighty Wigan. That is why the Italian clubs and Milan etc. were mentioned in some of the posts above.
People have this weird romantic idea of managers/players choosing the biggest challenge even when a better job is available. It just doesnt work that way. You pick whats the best available.
How many of you would turn down a hot chick at the pub if she throws herself at you and proceed to try and woo a fat chick gorging herself on burgers just because its a bigger challenge to try and replace the burger in her mouth with something else?
That's not the point I was trying to make. Obviously the Bayern job is attractive to Guardiola, hence why he's taken it and I'm sure he's very happy with his choice.
The question for me is how he's going to be viewed overall. The press and fans, regardless of the success he has at Bayern will always be able to suggest that the foundations were already there for him. Even worse for him the pressure will be huge. If (for example) they perform badly in the CL next year where does that leave him?
The point is, great manager make their reputations by achieving great things and winning trophies - but those who build a side and take things on get the best plaudits.
Building a top side takes a lot of time, not many top clubs atm which need big overhauls either. Milan at a stretch come to mind. Both City and Chelsea have top squads with unlimited funds, picking them wouldnt have got him many plaudits(in your definition) regardless of the success he'd have enjoyed there. Its the same with Bayern but they're a properly run club unlike the other 2.
As others have said, the job at Bayern is definitely a challenging one. specially now with the success they just had. Somewhere like Milan would have been a much bigger challenge, definitely, but did they approach him? I dont see the jobs at City or Chelsea as any more challenging than the one at Bayern, different challenges at both clubs, both sizeable ones.
Also, you can be sure that he'd have got a lot of bollocking on here and in the press had he picked the 2 oil clubs. Easy choice, went for the money etc.
And lost Kagawa and Sahin the year before.
Sent from my
And that what happens to top teams. They lose their best players every window.
I dont neccessarily agree - it would all depend how he did it. I dont see where in my post I suggest spending money and being succesful is some sort of crime. Its not easy to build a side even with a lot of money to spend - and the suggestion that Chelsea and City have "unlimited" funds is a bit of a stretch - both sides may buy one or even two really top names this summer, but they're not spending like the likes of Monaco even if they have in the past. Cavani has been linked to United today (along with Ronaldo, Bale and others this summer) while City seem to be squriming at the price.
In any event, had he gone into a City or Chelsea, spent a bit of money but got them playing great Barca-esque football and winning European and domestic trophies consistently then it would have been a huge boost to his reputation in my eyes - showing he can transform a side. He might have even got a bit more out of the talented players both sides already have.
As it stands he's joined a club which buys the best players from its closest rival and will be expected to dominate at home. Europe is more complicated but he'll be expected (I would think) to reach the latter stages of the CL at the very least.
To me he finds himself in a bit of a "lose lose" position - match what Heynkes did and the suggestion will be that it was already there for him - especially if he doesn't change much. Don't match what Heynkes did and he faces criticism - especially if he's tried to bring "Spanish" football to Bayern rather than stick with what they had. He's in a very difficult position.
Your're right about the criticism on here if he joined Cioty or Chelsea - but thats to be expected from United fans. Plenty cry foul play when Roman or the Sheikh spedns big but woould be overjoyed if Ronaldo returned or we blew £70 million on Bale. That's just how football is.
also sold Ronaldinho and Deco to make room for academy players. And soon after Toure, Eto'o and Henry.
Bold choices when you look at the profile of those players.
City and Chelsea dont need to do a Monaco now because they did it already few years back. If Monaco continue spending the way they are now, they wont need to spend much couple of seasons down the line either. I understand its a challenge as there are 3 clubs fighting for the title every year but somehow, I personally can never really get myself to like/respect trophies won due to sheer cash spending rather than any planning, youth development, etc.
You cant just come in and have any side play the way Barca do either. Its a very hard style to implement and would take years. He's already said he wont be doing it at Bayern and he couldnt have done it at chelsea or city either. He'd have made some tweaks but would mostly have got them to play a style suited to the squad rather than one of his own.
Imo, only the milan job is one of the top ones that i'd regard as a job he could have taken over if he was offered it. Great club with a lot of history and a big challenge. But then, the finances in Italy are fecked from what I gather and i dont begrudge him not taking it even if he had the chance, Managers and players are in it for the trophies and the glory that comes with it.
Come on, that's ridiculous. Thiago and Tello started important games for Barca under Guardiola, the title deciding clasico in 2012 for example. I'm not bored enough to look up all appearances of all these youth players and compare them to other clubs and their homegrown players, but I'm sure you won't find many users on here to agree with you. It's so obvious.
I wasn't talking about Roman, actually. I was talking about Berlusconi. Thought that was quite obvious with the buying overaged player comment. And I explained why City right now, is imo not an interesting choice for Guardiola. You're completely ignoring everything you can read about Guardiola's idea of football. If your idea of a challenge is that a manager should work at a club with a total opposite idea of how to build the team, then fair enough. In reality you usually call that a mistake by both parties involved and not a challenge.
So it took you what, 3 or 4 posts, to turn the discussion about Guardiola into your usual "the german league is a one team league" bullshit? Well done. I can't believe I let myself again drag into a pointless discussion with you. By the way, I don't understand the need to say Ferguson is the greatest of all time in a discussion about Guardiola. No one is saying anything different, hell, even if Pep repeats his Barca success at Bayern, he's still not on Ferguson's level, if we compare their careers. Who cares.
Just curious, why do you think were Bayern the best team in the world last season? And how do you rate Heynckes last season compared to other treble winning managers, for example Mourinho 2010? Were Bayern as a team more than the sum of its parts or are they just by far the greatest collection of individual brilliant players in the world right now?
Thats an argument for another day. I've been hauled over the coals on here regularly for my opinions - I simply don't see a great deal of difference in other clubs spending huge sums on players to catch up with United, when United did the same years ago when they were top of the pile. Others can justify it by reference to money being "self generated" and that's fair enough, I just see it as splitting hairs. Its made for a more entertaining league for me in any event - still, that's sidetracking.
The point re "barca-esque" football was a general point - simply that had he come into a Chelsea or City, who have been accused of being workmanlike under past managers playing entertaining stuff then that would be a real achievement.
For the record I think he'll do well at Bayern - but for me, he needs to do something really special for it to enhance his reputation in terms of being one of the worlds top managers.
Quite simply they have a great team and have developed a very good style of play. They've taken the "possession football" style and have developed it, adding a physical edge. They've simply evolved a very effective style.
It happens in football - a side do well for a couple of years, then teams work out how to deal with them and develop something new. A few years from now another side will come to the fore.
These pretzels are making me thirsty!
That was the original point, my dear German friend. Why else do you think I was classifying it as an easier option? It didn't take me 3 or 4 posts, that's where I originally started.
I said I have respect for managers who repeatedly build teams. Sir Alex and Wenger, happen to fall into the category. Do you read any of my posts or are you so eager to prove that Germany has the bestest league in the world, that you just start typing stuff?
But doesn't that mean that the manager did a brilliant job and that it's difficult to keep that style working? So why do you think any half decent manager could do a good job? That doesn't make sense to me.
Oh, my bad. Somehow I thought you'd actually be interested in a discussion about what would make the job at Bayern interesting and challenging compared to his other options. If all you wanted to do is tell everyone how boring the german league is, I really shouldn't have interfered. Won't happen again.
I agreed with your point about Sir Alex and Wenger. Still don't understand why you need to point it out again and again in a thread about a manager going into his 5th year in professional football. Did someone claim he's on a similar level to Ferguson already?
Oh and I agreed that it's easier to win the league with Bayern than with Milan, Chelsea or City. Would you please point out one of the posts in which I ever claimed that Germany has the bestest league? I know it's difficult to accept but there's a lot of grey area between black (germany has a boring one team league) and white (germany has the most exciting, competitive league in europe).
This is what I said.
Try and read it properly from next time. If you agreed, then what is the point of contention and why do you keep bringing it up?
Yeah, give me reasons what would coming to a club, that won nearly everything last season, buys one of the best players from their nearest rivals and makes double the amount of money than any other team in the league, interesting and challenging. I am all ears, Balu.
When he signed for Bayern, we were the biggest bottlers in football without a title for 2 years and finished 2nd in every competiton the season before. You know, just in case you forgot.
And I wrote several posts about what's interesting and challenging at Bayern. I'm sure you'll find them, because you're so good at reading. Of course, you probably dismiss all of them with stupid comparisons like the "Chelsea played youth players as well" one, so there's not much I can do about it.
The stupid comparison was made in response to your ridiculous comment about him playing youth in a meaningless Champions league game. So, it was dismissed as it deserved.
They were on an upward trajectory when it was announced. It was clear the Dortmund or for that matter anyone else won't be able to sustain the challenge, when they could just spend huge amount of money on a central midfielder.
Maybe he did - but surely its easier for an imcoming manager now those players have developed that style of play, are comfortable with it and all know their roles in ths system. Its far harder to develop a new system and ask the players to go out and do it.
It's of course not as simple as asking the players to go out "and do what you usually do" - the man management side is still important, but technically the system is there and the building blocks in place. Guardiola has to come in, not upset the balance, keep things as they are with a few tweaks here and there and he's laughing - a mile away from coming into a club on the wane trying to get back to glory days where you'd need to start from scratch. In that sense I think there are plenty of managers who could so that and be succesful.
Chelsea is a good example - their success was largely built on a blueprint that Jose Mourinho put in place and a spine of players he either brought in or brought on in terms of development. New managers came in, a few tweaks and they did well.
That was my comment:
I never said he only played them in one single unimportant game. I used one game to show how many youth players he worked with in the first team and explained others he turned into regular starters. I didn't think it was necessary to bring out stats about appearances, because everyone who followed Barca during Guardiola should know that players like Tello and Thiago weren't only used in unimportant games.
Like always, you simply ignore the points that prove you wrong. I'm still waiting for a source to prove the bullshit you told about Bayern making individual tv deals in germany, btw.
I agree with what you wrote, he doesn't need to (and really shouldn't) change much in his first year. His challenge is mainly about keeping the team performing on a very high level and change things step by step over the next years, if necessary. I highly doubt a half decent manager could do that, though.
I'm just surprised that people would see City or Chelsea as a challenge he hasn't already had. Is the situation at these clubs really different to Barca in 2008? Kicking the spine out (Ronaldinho, Deco, then Toure, Eto'o, Henry) and building a team around new players, changing the defensive setup to that high line with insane pressing, rebuilding the attack around Messi? Okay he didn't start out with a shit team (but neither are City or Chelsea) and did it step by step. Barca 2010/11 was clearly a different team with different tactics than Rijkaard's Barca in 2007/08, imo. And Real during his time weren't really an easy opponent. Both teams pushed each other to point records in the league.
You keep me pulling away from work, damn you Balu. I have done jack shit today.
Tello never played much under Pep. Thiago is a awesome talent, from whom the entire redcafe has been creaming for entire two weeks. Pique was purchased from us. He left because we couldn't offer him game time as he was behind Vidic and Rio.
I totally forgot about that. Were you saving to bring it up at the right time?
Anyways, I admit that quoted it wrong. The fact is that Germany has a very low broadcasting income. A lot of airtime on free channels, which allows Bayern, which is a hugely popular club, to sign lucrative sponsorship deals. In essence this creates a huge imbalance in revenues generated.
Also, Bayern have sponsors, who own a part of the football club. Owners - Sponsors? Where have I heard that before.
Tello never played much under Pep. Thiago is a awesome talent, from whom the entire redcafe has been creaming for entire two weeks. Pique was purchased from us. He left because we couldn't offer him game time as he was behind Vidic and Rio.
I totally forgot about that. Were you saving to bring it up at the right time?
Anyways, I admit that quoted it wrong. The fact is that Germany has a very low broadcasting income. A lot of airtime on free channels, which allows Bayern, which is a hugely popular club, to sign lucrative sponsorship deals. In essence this creates a huge imbalance in revenues generated.
Also, Bayern have sponsors, who own a part of the football club. Owners - Sponsors? Where have I heard that before.
Same here
. We should find a better time slot for these discussions.I totally forgot about that. Were you saving to bring it up at the right time?
Anyways, I admit that quoted it wrong. The fact is that Germany has a very low broadcasting income. A lot of airtime on free channels, which allows Bayern, which is a hugely popular club, to sign lucrative sponsorship deals. In essence this creates a huge imbalance in revenues generated.
Also, Bayern have sponsors, who own a part of the football club. Owners - Sponsors? Where have I heard that before.
No. I was really interested in what you mean by the time you wrote that, but you never answered again after I explained the tv deals in germany. The imbalance in sponsorship deals is partly influenced by the airtime on free channels, that's true. Hard to tell how big a factor it is, though. But in general, all german clubs benefit from it, imo. Bayern's commercial income is bigger than Real's or United's and Dortmund's is bigger than Chelsea's. We can't get more money from tv deals, because we Germans really really hate to pay for TV, so the clubs need to find other ways to make money.And Bayern selling shares to long term sponsors isn't really comparable to unfair sponsorship deals at sugar daddy clubs, if that's what you're implying. After all the part owner Adidas pays Chelsea and Real significantly more money than Bayern each year. And again Bayern aren't the only club in Germany who sold shares. Dortmund is hardly treated unfairly in that regard, if we look at what they did at the beginning of the last decade to finance their insane spending spree, that almost ruined the club.
But we surely find another time and a more fitting thread to discuss that further
.I disagree. If Germany were a league where there were other "powerhouse" sides that would spend big or make bold changes to get back up there I might agree. As it stands only Dortmund are remotely close and Bayern will line up next year with at least one of their best players. The league is practically guaranteed in that regard given how strong Bayern are. Europe is a different proposition as always, but a lot of big sides are in transition so you'd expect them to do well.
As regards his achievements at Barcelona, he was abviously very succesful on the pitch. The question I ask is how much of that was purely down to him? Barca have a strategy of internal promotion and can provide any manager with a seemingly endless supply of talented players, as well as having a system built up over the years from what Cruyff envisioned and which is engrained in the players from an early age. Lets be clear, he did very well in terms of making a cohesive side - but he didnt have to go and "build" a team in the sense of buying new players or starting from scratch.
For the record, I think Pep is clearly a talented manager of players - but for me, doubts still remain. He had a team of great players and great players obviously need less coaching.
Never heard that before. Especially not, if a club is building a truely dominant side.You dont think he's one of the world's top managers? Any club worth its salt looking for a new manager was chasing him last summer. Tell me this, what do you think does he need to do to be regarded as one of the best?
I'm not sure he's all he's cracked up to be at the moment, and I guess time will tell.
I think there's a slight doubt over his temprament in deciding to walk away from Barca when he did, and I also think the jury is out over his abilities in the transfer market. The latter is a key skill to master and while he wont have been the only one calling the shots at Barca they had some major busts over his time.
For me the best managers in history build a team and either have the ability to rebuild generation after generation to contine that success over a long period of time, or move on to other clubs and other leagues and build a dynasty there.
He may prove to be one of the greats - but he's not done enough yet. The real test of a top manager is what you do when the going gets tough, when you blow the title, or lose a final you should win and come back stronger. For all the success he had at Barca, Real Madrid became a credible threat, took the title and he stepped down. I'd have liked to see him stay there and take it back before moving on.
As things stand, until he takes a tough job I think some doubts will remain as to whether he really is a great.
The reported comments about Pep wanting the Bayern job as far back as 2011 are interesting. Coupled with Jose saying he was always going to go to Chelsea this summer, it would seem that neither manager was ever a serious contender to replace SAF after this season.
I agree with the part about him leaving barca just after they gave away the title. Even if he had made up his mind earlier, I'd have liked to see him stay on and win it back before leaving. I dont think someone like SAF could have stomached leaving after losing the title.
I dont think he's one of the greats already either. But he's among the top ones now, no doubt about that. He'l need to do more in different circumstances to be regarded among the all time greats, ofcourse.
There is still a lot to learn about Pep. He'll be going into his 5th year of management while most of his contemporaries are either close to retirement or highly experienced with a lot of years under their belt. Furthermore, Bayern will be his second stint in management. Comparing him to SAF, Wenger, even Mourinho seems a bit too soon for me. He's played a part in Barca's ridiculous trophy haul but with it being his first stint in management, question marks were always going to be there.
It's clear we don't know enough about Pep to say where exactly he fits compared to other top managers. I myself am in the "time will tell" camp. However, I do not like it when football fans belittle his achievements just because of the team he worked with. The idea that Sam Allardyce would have succeeded with that team just screams fallacy to me. It's an opinion that's been aired plenty of times
It's clear we don't know enough about Pep to say where exactly he fits compared to other top managers. I myself am in the "time will tell" camp. However, I do not like it when football fans belittle his achievements just because of the team he worked with. The idea that Sam Allardyce would have succeeded with that team just screams fallacy to me. It's an opinion that's been aired plenty of times
Did anybody post the Spiegel article in English here?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/how-pep-guardiola-came-to-bayern-munich-a-905688.html
It tells more about the acquisation of Guardiola and how that was a move from both sides - even first initiated from Guardiola - starting when Guardiola still was a Barcelona coach.
There is other interviews - one of Cesar Luis Menotti and one that features Sala i Martín, the economist that Guardiola often met in New York, that tell that this move is just a logical move from him. This articles are in German - but they are a really great read.
http://sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de/texte/anzeigen/40097
http://www.zeit.de/2013/26/pep-guardiola-fussball-trainer-fc-bayern
Everybody tells that it is an easy job as Bayern was successful before. But actually it is a big personal challenge for him. He has learned a new language for it and still needs to learn how to communicate in it. It is a new league and a new country that he does not know from before - with a lot new people. And - in difference to Barca, a club in which he grew up - it is a new club with a different structure and foreign people.
The players are already a team that had success with each other - and times without success. They grew together in the recent years and right now Guardiola is the intruder. He even is more of an outsider as it is not only the team that grew together - especially because of the story with Hoeness that even includes the officials in the club and the team. Just as an example - usually after the official part of a celebration the players would leave somewhere and party elsewhere together. After the official part of the treble celebrations at a sponsor location with a banquet - the team had organised a party in close circle to which they had the Rummenigge, Hoeness and the coaches invited - and they celebrated (and got drunk and misbehaved) with them until late in the morning.
If he keeps the attitude he has shown during the press conference and if he acts smart he will have that team behind him. They are intelligent players that are not the really difficult types - but if he tries to show who the boss is...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/how-pep-guardiola-came-to-bayern-munich-a-905688.html
It tells more about the acquisation of Guardiola and how that was a move from both sides - even first initiated from Guardiola - starting when Guardiola still was a Barcelona coach.
There is other interviews - one of Cesar Luis Menotti and one that features Sala i Martín, the economist that Guardiola often met in New York, that tell that this move is just a logical move from him. This articles are in German - but they are a really great read.
http://sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de/texte/anzeigen/40097
http://www.zeit.de/2013/26/pep-guardiola-fussball-trainer-fc-bayern
Everybody tells that it is an easy job as Bayern was successful before. But actually it is a big personal challenge for him. He has learned a new language for it and still needs to learn how to communicate in it. It is a new league and a new country that he does not know from before - with a lot new people. And - in difference to Barca, a club in which he grew up - it is a new club with a different structure and foreign people.
The players are already a team that had success with each other - and times without success. They grew together in the recent years and right now Guardiola is the intruder. He even is more of an outsider as it is not only the team that grew together - especially because of the story with Hoeness that even includes the officials in the club and the team. Just as an example - usually after the official part of a celebration the players would leave somewhere and party elsewhere together. After the official part of the treble celebrations at a sponsor location with a banquet - the team had organised a party in close circle to which they had the Rummenigge, Hoeness and the coaches invited - and they celebrated (and got drunk and misbehaved) with them until late in the morning.
If he keeps the attitude he has shown during the press conference and if he acts smart he will have that team behind him. They are intelligent players that are not the really difficult types - but if he tries to show who the boss is...
Same here
And Bayern selling shares to long term sponsors isn't really comparable to unfair sponsorship deals at sugar daddy clubs, if that's what you're implying. After all the part owner Adidas pays Chelsea and Real significantly more money than Bayern each year. And again Bayern aren't the only club in Germany who sold shares. Dortmund is hardly treated unfairly in that regard, if we look at what they did at the beginning of the last decade to finance their insane spending spree, that almost ruined the club.
But we surely find another time and a more fitting thread to discuss that further
I believe you.
It does create a certain imbalance and gives Bayern a Spainish big two like dominance in the Bundesliga. Bayern's commercial income in more than Real, Barcelona and United, three clubs with more worldwide popularity. It is very tough for other clubs to compete with them given there minimal resources. The only chance they have is that Bayern are caught napping every few years, while they get lucky with youth products like BVB did these past few years.
Bayern selling shares may not be comparable but it is still doesn't give right to their board members to present a holier-than-thou attitude towards the so called "sugar daddy" clubs. The money these sponsors invest is open to interpretation. Any new product requires a huge initial investment, who is to say that it will not be justified in the future.
Bayern is a well run club and I have no ill will towards them. I respect the fact that their management structure is made up of plenty of ex- players. They make their own money and are free to spend it in whichever way they like. However, no one should hide from the fact that their dominance has little challenge in the Bundesliga.
My dear friend, your conclusions are way too extreme. Dortmund's commercial income is also more than clubs with more popularity worldwide (Chelsea, Arsenal, Milan, Juve for example), so it's not only an advantage for Bayern. Germany is such a strong market and most of the money is created in our country. The comparison between Bayern's financial dominance to Real/Barca in Spain is ridiculous. Real has about five times the overall revenue Atletico or Valencia have. In Germany it's around 2:1 and will be less for the 12/13 season (probably around 400m to Dortmund's 250m).
Oh and I hate it when Hoeness and Rummenigge talk about other clubs, it's so unnecessary and I don't even care if they're right or wrong, I'd love them to shut up. Hoeness should be very quiet in the future anyway, Rummenigge probably will continue to talk about FFP and sugardaddy clubs because he's head of the executive board at the ECA and therefore involved in the FFP thing. But I really hope Sammer and now the gentleman Guardiola will lead the club in a more quiet way. Which is another aspect I love about the Guardiola signing btw. He really should improve our standing and our popularity in world football massively.
Oh and I hate it when Hoeness and Rummenigge talk about other clubs, it's so unnecessary and I don't even care if they're right or wrong, I'd love them to shut up. Hoeness should be very quiet in the future anyway, Rummenigge probably will continue to talk about FFP and sugardaddy clubs because he's head of the executive board at the ECA and therefore involved in the FFP thing. But I really hope Sammer and now the gentleman Guardiola will lead the club in a more quiet way. Which is another aspect I love about the Guardiola signing btw. He really should improve our standing and our popularity in world football massively.
I believe you.
It does create a certain imbalance and gives Bayern a Spainish big two like dominance in the Bundesliga. Bayern's commercial income in more than Real, Barcelona and United, three clubs with more worldwide popularity. It is very tough for other clubs to compete with them given there minimal resources. The only chance they have is that Bayern are caught napping every few years, while they get lucky with youth products like BVB did these past few years.
Bayern selling shares may not be comparable but it is still doesn't give right to their board members to present a holier-than-thou attitude towards the so called "sugar daddy" clubs. The money these sponsors invest is open to interpretation. Any new product requires a huge initial investment, who is to say that it will not be justified in the future.
Bayern is a well run club and I have no ill will towards them. I respect the fact that their management structure is made up of plenty of ex- players. They make their own money and are free to spend it in whichever way they like. However, no one should hide from the fact that their dominance has little challenge in the Bundesliga.
Bayern just uses the methods that are open for them in this country to work successfully. Everything they have or did was based on their success in sports and management. Like this it is not comparable with the "sugar daddy" clubs were investment is not based on prior success in sports - maybe not even future success as the money they spend is not profit related (like the investment of the usual American investor in the Premier League is).
That as a result both parties have money from big companies is a result - but not the cause - and just does not make it the same. In Bayern's case the sums are in a direct relationship to the success they have - the companies use their partnership for Bayern for marketing. And the two companies that have each a 9 per cent share had big interest in showing their relationship with Bayern.
Can you imagine how big the interest of a company like Nike would be to be kit sponsor of FC Bayern? It is somehow the unthinkable as the relationship between Bayern and Adidas is very close since 40 years - like this it is just normal that they took the chance to get the shares of Bayern when they were offered. For Bayern the deep relationship to Adidas might even be an economic disadvantage if you see the contract Adidas just made with Chelsea. It is something similar with Audi - Germany is a big car manufacturer country and being the car partner of the biggest brand in the biggest sports in the country is a major deal.
To make this discussion about the dominance in the league right now has just the wrong timing. Bayern has had a totally unusual season last year - and to base all the discussion on this season and this exceptional team just does not fit it. The financial gap is probably as big as it always was in the last 10 to 20 years - and even if Bayern for sure was in the race to the title each year they have not reached that goal too often. Bayern's goal is to be competitive in Europe - and their commercial deals is their only advantage they have and the only possibility to be that - they do not drain out their fans and they are not in the advantage of a TV deal like the EPL has it or the advantages of the two Spanish teams.
Until the last season Bayern always had a decent first team - but in difference to the other European teams did not have a good bench. So in difference to the other German teams that mainly concentrated on the league they tried to compete in Germany and in Europe. And it is just not the same motivation a player X gives a match against medium or smaller Bundesliga teams at Saturday when he played a European team on Wednesday. It is the same effect you saw with Dortmund this year.
I disagree. As has been noted already by our friend with the japanese name, any moron could coach a team the quality of BM to 3 titles (as Villanova did with last years best team of all time - oh wait. he didnt).
That being a fact, why did Bayern hire Pep? Because they expect much more from him than just "not upsetting the balance" and win some titles. He is expected to do nothing less than to build a dynasty. a legacy. Something that will top the 1970ies team.
Whould that have been the expectations, had he signed for Chelsea or City?
would love to write more, but gotta dash. Live TV from the first public training. 25.000 spectators, reknown magazines like "spiegel" run news tickers... Aaah, such an easy job Pep has...