Dortmunds hiring has been nothing less but brilliant in the last couple of years, i hate to admit.
Why do German transfers run so smoothly?
- Thread starter SilentWitness
- Start date
I'm a German living in Germany. Football was never a topic in my entire school life, University life, working life. I literally have only 1 friend in my entire WhatsApp list who talks football with me regularly. More people than that go out to watch international games during big tournaments but I'd describe them all as casuals who just want to socialize and have a beer outside, they don't even know for which clubs the players play except a couple Bayern players like Neuer, Müller.
Stadiums being full means very little, we're a 83 million country with the cheapest ticket prices in whole Europe.
It's definitely nowhere near England level of craziness. My wife had an exchange buddy from England and I could talk immediately football with him (Spurs fan).
It's because they don't take so long to prepare an offer.
We always seem to 'prepare an offer' for 4-5 weeks before anything materializes. I think we craft ours on pergamin, handwritten by a Himalayan monk.
We always seem to 'prepare an offer' for 4-5 weeks before anything materializes. I think we craft ours on pergamin, handwritten by a Himalayan monk.
its a matter of your personal filter bubble, i suppose. I grew up in Munich and in school, everyone but two of the kids in my class -ok, the boys mostly, this was the 70ies- supoorted a team, either FCB or 1860. I've worked as a consultant all my adult life and at almost every place i came to work, it took less than a day usually until someone wanted to know what my alignment was
I'ds say its even crazier than England, to be honest. England has maybe more sports fans, but there are other major sports that will pull big crowds, like horse racing, cricket, rugby, etc, In Germany, there is football and everything else is 3rd string at best.
Bayern might be different then, after all they have the only internationally relevant club in Germany anyway.its a matter of your personal filter bubble, i suppose. I grew up in Munich and in school, everyone but two of the kids in my class -ok, the boys mostly, this was the 70ies- supoorted a team, either FCB or 1860. I've worked as a consultant all my adult life and at almost every place, it took less than a day usually until someone wanted to know what my alignment was
I'ds say its even crazier than England, to be honest. England has maybe more sports fans, but there are other major sports that will pull big crowds, like horse racing, cricket, rugby, etc, In Germany, there is football and everything else is 3rd string at best.
I've grown up in the vicinity of Frankfurt and I'm still living and working in this area and I have back strongwalker's narrative. Football is an ever present topic in almost each lunch break as well as it has been in school back in 80ies and early 90ies.
Nah, it's not a stereotype. As a german I had to deal with a few american businessmen (who were responsible for deals in the 6-7 digit range) and we talked about the differences in how business is done. Germans are indeed straight-forward and go right into the business talk and keep the small-talk for after.
A much more interesting was brought up by one, though. Mainly that germans often tend to not get the very most out of things. This does not mean that they want shitty deals, but rather that they understand the other side also wants to have a good deal out of it. You can also see it in german culture in terms of bargaining. Yes, there is a little bit of bargaining, but nothing ridiculous. When someones labour or product is - lets say- worth 1000 bucks, germans will not offer 500 bucks for it. They will maybe try to go at 800 and see, if they can get a little bit of a better deal, but not pushing it into ridiculous areas. Same seems to be part of the business culture. It is accepted that certain players are worth around X - and then the DoFs get together and bargain about where around that X, but none would get the idea to offer or demand Y when it's unreasonable.
Personal anecdote: In germany we have ebay.kleinanzeigen (formerly a different company that got bought by ebay) which is a bit like craigslist. Essentially people can offer products or labour on there. Often, but not exclusively used for second hand stuff. I like to use it quite a bit to get rid of unused items. If I then put an item in for 100 €, I very very seldom get offers that I would consider rude by germans. Sure, some ask me they are willing to pay 70-80 for it. But the ridiculous offers are usually from non-germans with stuff like "I buy for 30. Will get today". And that's quite common to the point I've seen plenty of sellers on kleinanzeigen even adding "I will not sell to non-germans anymore".
Another point is - as mentioned - the german DoF. Sure, the coach will have a say in transfer-signings, but generally there are two approaches to signings:
1. Scouting finds an still under the radar-player. Head-Scout + Coach + DoF discuss. DoF discusses the budget with the management. DoF approaches the player and club behind the scenes for some time, discusses the interest and opportunities and then puts out an offer (i.E. if I remember Dortmund was in contact with Dembele 2 years prior the signing). Usually that starts already within the time period of closed transferwindows and all we get to see is when the deal is almost done.
2. Coach discusses with Head-Scout & DoF what kind of player(s) are needed. Scouts look what they got / can find. Go back to Coach + DoF and same as above.
Key is, all of that usually happens inbetween transfer-windows. Essentially the DoFs role is way bigger in german football business. So once the transfer-window is open, the pathway to the signings - if the DoF did a good job - is already there and only the last bit of negotiation is to be done and then the trigger is pulled.
Obviously there are also negative examples such as Stuttgart, Schalke, Hamburg - who all should play a way bigger role with their possibilities. But for every Stuttgart or Hamburg there is a Freiburg, Mainz, Augsburg who do really good work with the little possibilities they have.
Furthermore another aspect that was talked about was the lack of star-players. Naturally the Bundesliga doesn't have as much money as the EPL. Thus there is no Ronaldo, Messi, Mpappe or whoever hype around. Add to it the fact that german football fans don't particular care about the players gossip and the football media operates very different.
And last but not least there seems to be a general gentlemans agreement in Germany to keep things under the radar for negotiations. Except for Bayerns approach sometimes. Other than that most negotiations are done behind the scenes and only become public when they are done or at the very least there are legit rumours during the endstages of these negotiations.
The Germans are known to be the most practical in Europe. Im not surprised they can finalize transfer quick no fuss.
I think most transfers around the world would finalize as quick if both parties sit together negotiate, remove the egos and agree somewhere in the middle. In reality both parties are arrogant, selfish with a big ego that stands between agreeing terms. Specially agents.
I think most transfers around the world would finalize as quick if both parties sit together negotiate, remove the egos and agree somewhere in the middle. In reality both parties are arrogant, selfish with a big ego that stands between agreeing terms. Specially agents.
How old are you?
I am born end of the 60s. I just know about 5 people in my age group that aren't interested at all in football, not even the international matches. Then you have the occasional fans that watch the national team and are more event fans. But about 50% watch weekly football - more or less crazy.
The age group of my son (born in the 90s) seems to be less football crazy. That is the generation that rarely watches normal TV, too.
Football is Germany's National Sport and it gets by far the most coverage of any sport in Germany(much like most European/South American Countries). Germany is absolutely focused on football. Don't know how that can even be a debate. This is like saying Americans don't like the NFL because you see some Los Angeles people out on a Sunday Night instead of at home watching the NFL games.
End of 80s, in my age group of 27 - 32 year olds football isn't much of a thing. I mean yesterday I met an old school friend on a party who was playing football himself since he was little, I asked him if he watched Liverpool - Barca, he said he didn't watch CL this season at all and doesn't know anything about it.
Do you live in East Germany or something?
Die Ausnahme bestätigt die Regel.
Seriously, what the feck is with DB? Every time I'm in Germany the thing I miss the most from Austria is ÖBB. DB trains are always delayed, I miss connections regularly, and it's a small thing but the next restaurant car that I see working in an ICE train will be the first.
This Sane deal is going so fast and smoothly.
Invest everything in shady advisor companies and "social" stuff while almost completely ignoring the infrastructure falling apart. That's what happens.
Interesting comparison. I know there are stats junkies in the US who can recite the averages for an obscure baseball player form 30 years back, but i never met anyone personally as involved as even the average german football supporter.
When i lived in the US for a short period, i had colleagues who declared themselves "basketball crazy". Turned out they had followed thew Bulls in their heydays, but not so much since they declined, had never been to a live match either. "The really good basketball is in the NCAA" - "ah? so what teams are favourites this year?" - no idea. "so what are the promising players then? "hm, dunno". We went to a sports bar together to watch some NCAA matches. 5 different games on the various tv screens, but that was just background noise, no one watched intensely or even cared all that much...
That was in between 75-85, roughly. Bayern had a boost from the 3x EC wins, no doubt, but in '77 they were 8th, 78 12th. a few years after HSV won the EC and battled Bayern on par, along with Cologne, Stuttgart and Gladbach. Even 1860 was a factor...
Last edited:
Apparently, City rejected the initial bid, which counts as the usual foreplay... meanwhile, Griezmann is popping up again.
Hitler's only positive legacy.
Hey, don't mention the war
Apparently there was no initial bid.
Also, there is no B3 bomber. (Conny Brean)