Episode 14 The TV Presenter: Guest Raphael Honigstein - Let’s talk Borussia’s Bayern challenge..

Thank you for your interest in the BvB London fan community podcast as every week the focus of the show will be on exploring a facet of B​orussia Dortmund life by talking to experts and former participants of the club's life, like players, fans, journalists who have covered the club and functionaries and experts and thus make this wonderful club more accessible to non-German speakers but the podcast is also of interest to German football fans who speak English.

 

The focus of the show is a Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund, two titans of the German league and yet not a battle of equals, Bayern have a turnover of €300m more than Die Schwarz-Gelben. But the Meisterschaften of 2019 and 20 have been amongst the exciting and promising in recent years, with more than a hint of potentiality for a major upset to the benefit of the boys from the Westfalenstadion.

 

Raphael Honigstein is one of the leading football broadcast journalists in the UK who feeds the appetite in UK for the fan's favourite football league, the Bundesliga, well-known to viewers of BT Sport TV as a pundit, a commentator on Talk Sport and a writer for amongst others the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Also an author of a number of books including 'Bring the noise' on BVB's former and current Liverpool gaffer Jürgen Klopp and 'Das Reboot how German football reinvented itself and conquered the world', originating from Bavaria a life-long FC Bayern Munich fan.

 

Topic 1 - Bayern in short why are they where they are at this time? Bayern have won all the Bundesliga titles since 2013 and now the triple they have an excellent squad including and Hansi Flick has exceeded everyone's expectations. What is the impact on German football? 

 

Topic 2 Dortmund as an area is less industrially successful than Munich and so BVB has to rely on fan power which they manage admirably they have the biggest gate in the world and make €4m per home game and BVB run a very tidy ship with a €0.5bn turnover and €30m profit in 19/20 but have been for many years unable to hold the big names like Hummels and Lewandowski and some label Dortmund a 'selling club' but is there another reason players leave? What is the reason for BVB's pain in the face of the Munich juggernaut? 

 

Topic 3 What about the way the two clubs are run? The management structure? The technical staff, what difference do Matthias Sammer and Sebastian Kehl at Borussia make? Borussia have one of the most talented squads since the 2011/12 double-winning season but is the number 1 spot in the German league title on the cards with the current squad? What are the areas BVB need to make up the numbers in? 

 

Topic 4 There have been a run of managers since Klopp left without finding the 'special one' Was it a mistake to sack Tuchel? Lucien Favre's tactics are getting points and record numbers of goals but is he a winner? His last title was 9 years ago and in the Swiss League. Is he the one to mould the 'New Generation' into a silverware-winning team and we take a look at some of those coaches who Watzke and Zorc may be running the ruler over for the a potential change of guard. 

 

Topic 5 As on every show we find out what our guests own experiences of going to Westfalenstadion are, can a Bayern fan still admire the home of the Black and Yellow? What does Borussia Dortmund mean in Germany as a club? Plus we get Rapha's Predictions for the top places in the 20-21 Bundesliga season ahead.

 

On the eve of 20-21 Colm and Ben of Fan Club London take the pulse of German football, can the fan's league of choice survive another Bayern title? Plus Colm works on his German pronunciation skills and Ben discovers Rapha and him have more in common than they realised and share a common appreciation for some of the grounds around England. 

 

We hope you enjoy the show, remember to send us your comments, share the show with friends and to apply for tickets contact the club via the website which is borussiadortmundlondon.co.uk or join the London BvB community at our online group at Facebook.com/borussiadortmundfanclubengland.

 

During the season you can also come to watch a game at our meet-up Stammtisch at the Naughty Bar, just off Oxford Street, in Cleveland street London.

 

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